South Korea has cleared a 1.9 trillion won programme to develop a dedicated electronic warfare aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force, with initial operational deployment planned for around 2034. Announced by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the Electronic Warfare Aircraft (Block-I) initiative is aimed at countering increasingly advanced air-defence and electronic threats around the Korean Peninsula, giving Seoul a new stand-off jamming capability to control the electromagnetic battlespace during high-intensity operations.
The programme envisages a large special-mission aircraft capable of detecting, analysing and disrupting hostile radar and communications networks across wide areas. Designed for both peacetime intelligence collection and wartime suppression of enemy air defences, the platform is expected to be based on a long-range business jet and will be followed by a more capable Block-II evolution. LIG Nex1 is set to lead mission-system development, with Korean Air expected to handle airframe modification and integration, underscoring South Korea’s push to build sovereign expertise in high-end electronic warfare.
