South Korea has announced the start of a large-scale project to create a national LAMD (Low Altitude Missile Defense) air defense system, which has been compared to Israel's “Iron Dome”. A budget of $2.89 billion has been earmarked for the development of a system capable of effectively destroying missiles, artillery shells and drones, Defense Express reports.
A fully completed LAMD system will be deployed by 2035. The main purpose of this technology is the protection of strategically important objects, in particular nuclear power plants, government buildings and infrastructure in the capital region of the country. This is due to the need to provide defense against artillery and missile threats that are constantly coming from North Korea.
At this time, Korea actively uses anti-missile defense systems, in particular the American Patriot and THAAD systems, but LAMD will be a national development adapted to the specific challenges of the region. It is expected that the new system will provide not only effective defense, but also reduce dependence on imported technologies.
LAMD is being developed by the Defense Technology Development Agency of South Korea. Testing and testing of the main elements is planned to be carried out until 2029, after which the phased deployment of the system will begin.