The South Korean military plans to retrofit C-130 aircraft to allow its special forces to infiltrate North Korea’s nuclear and missile bases, a military source said.
“We need to improve our special forces’ capabilities to infiltrate North Korean military facilities in preparation for asymmetric threats from the North like nuclear or missile attacks or for a sudden change there,” the source added.
The Chosun Ilbo also quoted the source as saying, “So we decided to retrofit four of the air force’s C-130 transport planes into aircraft similar to MC-130s, the US’s special operations aircraft.”
South Korea has plans to install equipment including multifunction radar, infrared front perimetre surveillance radar and satellite communications equipment on the aircraft.
Currently, the South Korean Air Force has 12 C-130s and largely relies on the US military for support with MC-130s or MH-47 or MH-60 helicopters.
