South Korea will develop an air defense system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome for long-range use against North Korean artillery. The $ 2.5 billion project is scheduled to be implemented by 2035 at the latest.
According to Seoul, North Korea has about a thousand artillery units stationed along the demarcation line on the Korean Peninsula, many of which are directly aimed at large urban areas in South Korea.
As per a study by think tank RAND in 2020, “North Korea maintains nearly 6,000 artillery systems within range of major South Korean population centers, which it could use to kill many thousands in just an hour, even without resorting to chemical or nuclear weapons.” RAND hypothesised five scenarios and estimated that the casualties from the attacks ranged from about 4,500 to more than 200,000.
Iron Dome is a development of a private Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of the most classified and expensive air defense systems in the world. It consists of a radar, a control center, and an installation for hitting enemy missiles. It is designed to protect civilians and important infrastructure from shelling.