[Courtesy of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration]
SEOUL -- An unmanned underwater mine disposal system developed by a South Korean company with independent technology has been deployed for naval operations. It can carry out operations against strong currents and operating time is longer than existing equipment imported from abroad.
The deployment of Daeyang Electric's new mine disposal system began in 2018, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) controlled by the defense ministry said in a statement on December 29, adding it would carry out the task of quickly and safely removing mines installed in ports, sea transportation routes and landing coasts.
Daeyang Electric has applied superior marine robot technology used for its mine disposal vehicle (MDV) to develop the news system which was introduced to replace old imported systems that have caused maintenance problems, the agency said.
The new system launched from a minesweeping ship navigates by remote control and installs bombs for mine clearance. DAPA said that even if connected cables are cut while in operation, the system can use autonomous navigation to come back.
In early December, DAPA selected LIG Nex1 for a military project to develop an underwater mine detector equipped with a supersonic camera and Sonar that can self-drive for more than 20 hours to find mines, monitor enemy infiltration routes and collect topographic Information for civilian rescue operations.
South Korea's military has used Sonar installed in ships or explosive disposal teams to search and remove mines, causing concern over human casualties. Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of the water, such as other vessels.
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