S. Korea's first spy plane arrives for deployment

By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's first surveillance airplane to be deployed this year arrived at an Air Force base on Monday, the country's defense procurement agency said. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said an E-737, the country's first airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft from Boeing, landed at the Air Force base in Gimhae, about 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The aircraft, based on Boeing's 737-700, has been dubbed "Peace Eye" after a naming contest in 2008. "The first E-737 completed tests by our Air Force at Boeing's factory in Seattle," the DAPA said in a statement. "It will go through test flights and acceptance tests before it's handed over to our Air Force in early September." In 2006, South Korea reached a US$1.6 billion deal with Boeing to purchase four E-737s. The DAPA said the remaining three E-737s will be delivered by 2012. Australia and Turkey are the other operators. According to the agency, the E-737, equipped with an electronically scanned radar antenna, can detect and monitor up to 1,000 airborne or surface targets simultaneously. "It will be capable of checking airborne or seaborne targets on the entire Korean Peninsula, and will be able to catch aircraft flying at low altitude infiltrating mountainous areas," the DAPA added.