N Korea close to completing airborne early warning aircraft

The Ilyushin IL-76. Pic/38 North

North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft, satellite imagery showed, an asset that experts say will sharply bolster the country's air force power when it's deployed.

North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes pose a significant security threat to South Korea, the US and others. But its aerial surveillance capability is far behind those of its rivals, while most of its fighter jets and other military aircraft are aging.

38 North - a website specialising in North Korea studies - reported on Tuesday that recent commercial satellite imagery showed an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft parked at a Pyongyang airport, with a large radome mounted on top of the fuselage. A radome refers to a structure that encircles a radar system. It called the development "a significant upgrade for an air force that has not seen new airborne capabilities in years".

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