North Korea's air force ups ante with new early warning aircraft

North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft (AEW), U.S.-based analysis website 38 North said Tuesday.

A Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft operated by North Korean state carrier Air Koryo approaches Vladivostok on April 23, 2019. Satellite images taken on March 3 show a similar aircraft has a radome mounted on its fuselage at Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport. [YONHAP]

North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft (AEW), U.S.-based analysis website 38 North said Tuesday.

The development marks a significant upgrade for the North Korean air force, “which has not introduced new airborne capabilities in years,” according to 38 North.

Commercial satellite images posted on 38 North’s website show an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft, topped with a large radome, next to a hangar at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport.

A radome — short for radiation dome — is a structural enclosure that protects a radar antenna.

38 North surmised that the presence of the radome on the IL-76 “indicates support or influence from China,” which employs similar devices on its AEW aircraft.

The radome, which was captured in satellite images taken on Monday, sports a triangular design also used by Chinese AEW aircraft, but not by U.S. or Russian aircraft.

According to 38 North, the triangular markings indicates the placement of three non-rotating phased array radars that each cover a 120-degree sector.

However, the analysts who wrote the report said the triangle design alone “is not conclusive proof” of the radar's possible origin as being Chinese.

The aircraft in the satellite images posted by 38 North was one of three IL-76s previously used by North Korea’s national carrier, Air Koryo, on cargo routes.

North Korea watchers speculated that it was being converted into an AEW aircraft after it was moved into the hangar in October 2023.

A security fence was almost immediately built around the aircraft, and photos taken a month later showed that work had begun on top of the fuselage.

The radome had not yet been mounted on the aircraft when it was moved into a nearby hangar in November last year.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]