▲ Test firing scene of the long-range artillery intercept system (Korean Iron Dome) unveiled by the Ministry of National Defense
When the presidential candidate of the ruling party launched the L-SAM, a domestic long-range interception system, and the Blue House responded, "L-SAM test launch was successful," the Ministry of National Defense violated the public notice rule of 'undisclosed weapons in development' and did not even test the L-SAM. The video of SAM was distributed to the press.
The release of the Ministry of National Defense's L-SAM video alone raised suspicions of election interference, but the magnificent launch scene of the US intercept system from five years ago was secretly inserted into the introduction of the L-SAM video, resulting in a video manipulation controversy.
President Moon Jae-in and Blue House chief of public communication Soo-hyun Park announced the successful test launch of the Korean Iron Dome, or LAMD, a domestic long-range artillery intercept system, emphasizing 'the Moon Jae-in government with a strong defense system'.
Again, the Ministry of National Defense has released videos and photos of the Korean Iron Dome regardless of the public announcement rules.
However, the Korean Iron Dome is a non-substantial weapon that has not even been developed.
It was a forced publicity that the Korean-style Iron Dome test-fire was successful after taking and firing a Korean surface-to-air Haegung missile almost as it is.
The Korean iron dome will start basic development in the second half of this year and the goal is to complete development 14 years later.
The L-SAM will enter the high-level intercept test, which is a real test launch from next year.
Neither is a stage where you can be optimistic about success.
If you wish for the success of L-SAM and Korean Iron Dome, now is the time to keep quiet and watch.
If success is taken for granted, defense scientists are weighed down and unable to demonstrate their abilities.
Is it a security interest or a political interest what the Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense are pursuing during the presidential election over unripe weapons?
I haven't even started development yet, but the test launch was successful.
Park Soo-hyun, senior public communication officer, wrote on SNS on the 27th of last month that "the test launch was successful to verify the flight performance of the Korean iron dome."
At the graduation ceremony of the 3rd Military Academy the next day, President Moon Jae-in said, "We are firmly establishing a Korean-style iron dome and missile defense system that will completely block any threats."
On the same day, the Ministry of National Defense announced the 'successful test launch' of the Korean-style Iron Dome through the screening video of the entire military commanders meeting and the video distributed to the media.
It is a nuance as if the development of the Korean iron dome has been completed, but it is not true.
The military authorities held a Defense Project Promotion Committee on June 29 last year and decided to research and develop a long-range artillery intercept system called the Korean Iron Dome.
It plans to invest 2.8 trillion won over 14 years from this year to 2035.
If the development speed is increased, the military expects to be able to pull it off by 2-3 years.
An official from the DAPA explained, "We will begin exploration and development this fall."
Exploration development is a basic stage of development, and it is a process to prepare for full-scale development by identifying core technologies.
System development, which is the main development, will start after 2-3 years.
In other words, the development of the Korean-style iron dome has not even started.
A key official at the National Defense Science Research Institute expressed, "Currently, there is no Korean-style iron dome."
The missile in the video released by the Ministry of National Defense on the 28th of last month has almost the same shape as the Navy's surface-to-air missile Haegung.
The military authorities are about to develop a Korean-style iron dome based on the Haegung, but prior to exploration and development, the Haegung was remodeled and a basic experiment was conducted on the 23rd of last month.
Photos of the launch pad, radar, and engagement control center were also released, saying it was for a Korean iron dome, but the identity is unclear.
Shin Jong-woo, a research fellow at the Korea Defense Security Forum, said, "It is a difficult development that requires securing high-level technology, such as filtering technology that distinguishes between the fragments of a hit target and a target that cannot be intercepted in the process of intercepting rockets and shells flying like rain." It is clearly a mistake to promote an intangible weapon as if it had succeeded in test firing."
L-SAM and long-range air-to-air maps were unripe, but it was revealed
It was from the first half of 2016 that the domestic medium-range intercept system M-SAM, or Cheongung-II, appeared in the media properly.
In January of that year, the intercept test was started, and the chance of success was increased by slowly hitting the target.
One year later, the Cheongung-II was judged to be a complete development success.
The L-SAM, which intercepts enemy missiles at a higher altitude than the Cheongung-II, is yet to be tested.
The intercept test will be conducted from next year to the next year.
However, when the presidential candidate of the ruling party publicly supported it, and the chief of public communication at the Blue House wrote "Test launch successful for flight performance verification" on SNS, the Ministry of National Defense released the L-SAM video while ignoring the public announcement rules.
It's like the government hastily advertised a weapon that was embroiled in a presidential election controversy.
In addition, in the introduction of the L-SAM video, the US Missile Defense Agency's mid-stage intercept system (GBI) test launch conducted in the Pacific Ocean from Kwajalin Atoll five years ago was inserted without explanation.
It is highly susceptible to intentional editing to highlight L-SAM.
When President Moon Jae-in visited the National Defense Science Research Institute last year, the military authorities released a video of the aircraft being separated from the wing of a fighter jet, saying it was a long-range air-to-ground missile.
The long-range air-to-surface missile was in the exploration and development stage until last year.
Even now, it is difficult to decide where to entrust the system development.
The long-range air-to-surface missile under search and development, unveiled in front of the president last year, was just a simple model without an engine or penetrating warhead.
The politicization of domestic weapons of concern
A key official from the Ministry of National Defense told reporters, "Please understand that the video was released due to concerns about the security of the people due to North Korea's missile test launch and the Ukraine war at the beginning of the year."
If the purpose was purely to relieve security instability, there are numerous non-political and complete core weapons of our military that can be unveiled coolly.
L-SAM, a Korean-style iron dome, which has become a political weapon as the major presidential candidates and the Blue House emphasized it, should not have been touched.
The Ministry of National Defense even manipulated the L-SAM video and celebrated the success of the test launch of the Korean Iron Dome before development even started.
Excessive boasting of weapons may not relieve security insecurity, but rather stimulate North Korea and cause security instability.
The Ministry of National Defense is well aware of this, so it has established a public announcement rule stating that 'we cannot disclose weapons in development'.
The Department of Defense's disregard for public affairs rules is not something to be taken lightly.
The Department of Defense would not have voluntarily released footage of weapons that were either in development or not yet under development.
However, many active-duty soldiers are murmuring that "the Ministry of National Defense plays politics in the presidential election," even though "there must have been an order from the Blue House".