Seoul, Sep 18 (EFE).- South Korea will invest some KRW290 billion (about $218 million) in improving the capabilities of its anti-bunker missiles to strengthen its deterrent capabilities against North Korea, the Yonhap news outlet announced Monday.
This investment seeks to provide greater range and destructive capabilities to the existing KTSSM missile, a ground-to-ground projectile whose objective is to destroy underground targets, such as artillery pieces located inside tunnels, the country’s defense acquisition agency told Yonhap.
The current missile has a range of about 180 kilometers, a range that could be extended to above 300 kilometers, according to experts.
The new KTSSM-II would be ready by the end of 2027, the agency’s spokesperson, who stated that several South Korean companies in the defense sector are involved in the production of prototypes.
The development of the first KTSSM was decided after the North Korean attack on the South Korean island of Yeongpyeong in the Yellow Sea, which occurred on Nov. 23, 2010 shortly after South Korea’s navy conducted live-fire exercises near disputed waters.
The attack, carried out with more than 100 artillery rounds, cost the lives of two civilians and two South Korean soldiers. EFE
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