Canada recently signed a contract to acquire an Over the Horizon Radar (OTHR) system, an ultra-long-range surveillance network, from Australia for 2.5 billion Australian dollars (about 2.7 trillion won). The acquisition covers the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) operated by the Australian military, which can detect an enemy's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch from its early stages beyond the horizon.
JORN is an ultra-long-range surveillance system capable of detecting aircraft, ships, and missiles from about 3,000 km away. Canada plans to use the technology to monitor the vast, sparsely populated Arctic region. Over-the-horizon radar is an advanced technology that detects objects beyond the horizon, outside the detection range of conventional radar, by exploiting the way high-frequency (HF) radio waves reflect off the ionosphere.
The core value of over-the-horizon radar lies in its data fusion capability, which combines faint signals captured at long range with other intelligence. It can serve as the core of an early warning system that integrates information from satellites, maritime patrol aircraft, ship radars, and ground air defense networks into a single operational picture to detect movements beyond the horizon.
As ultra-large radars have emerged as a core capability of air defense networks in modern warfare, military powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are engaged in a "radar race," competitively deploying over-the-horizon radars with detection ranges of thousands of kilometers.
To monitor and track North Korea's ICBM launches, the United States has deployed and operates a Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) in waters near the Korean Peninsula. SBX is a floating radar base that moves across the sea, measuring 73 meters wide, 119 meters long, and 85 meters high. Its maximum detection range is about 4,800 km, and it is known to have enough precision to identify a small metal object the size of a baseball.
Along with this, the United States has also deployed a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Alaska. LRDR is an advanced version of the early warning radar (EWR) operated during the Cold War to detect and track Soviet nuclear missiles, and is the successor model to the AN/FPS-132 radar.
The AN/FPS-132 is a triangular-column shape 35 meters high, with each face monitoring 120 degrees for a total of 360 degrees. Its onboard active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has a detection range of about 5,500 km. A radar of the same series has also been deployed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and some of its performance is reported to have been degraded by a recent Iranian drone attack.
China and Russia also operate ultra-long-range, high-performance radars with detection ranges reaching 5,000 km.
According to Chinese media, an ultra-large radar similar to the U.S. early warning system Pave Paws is installed near the Shuangyashan aerospace observation and control station in Heilongjiang Province. Its detection range reaches 5,500 km, and it is known to have performance on par with the U.S.'s new AN/FPS-132 Pave Paws radar.
A "Tianbo" over-the-horizon (OTH) detection radar capable of monitoring all of Japan and Korea is also reported to have been deployed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and elsewhere. Its maximum detection radius is 3,000 km, far exceeding the 600 to 800 km detection range of THAAD's X-band radar.
Like the United States, China also operates electronic reconnaissance ships equipped with sea-based radars. In particular, they are also used as electronic warfare assets that decode enemy codes based on electronic signals and data collected using electronic communication technology, search for communication frequencies, and jam electromagnetic waves.
China also operates ground-based large phased array radars (LPAR). It has built LPAR bases in Zhejiang Province, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and Heilongjiang Province, capable of detecting targets up to 5,500 km away. The Korean Peninsula, all of Japan, and the Russian Far East are all included in their surveillance range.
Russia, one of the four major powers around the Korean Peninsula and a military power, also operates an air defense radar system with a detection radius of 6,000 km aimed at China. This radar, dubbed "Russia's THAAD," is deployed in Irkutsk, Siberia, and is known to be able to monitor all of the Chinese mainland, which stretches about 5,500 km from east to west.
The radar's capabilities drew attention when it was reported to have captured the flight trajectory of China's "Dongfeng-41" ICBM, which can strike the entire United States with a maximum range of 15,000 km, when China test-launched it in April 2016.
By contrast, Korea's capability to operate ultra-long-range large radars is relatively lacking. The South Korean military has deployed the "EL/M-2080 Green Pine Radar" at four sites, including the Jeolla region and Busan, to detect North Korean ballistic missiles, but its detection range is about 900 km. Japan operates two early warning radars with a detection range of about 2,000 km.
The South Korean military has also acquired the EL/M-2080S Super Green Pine Radar, which has an improved detection range. It is the "Block-C" model, an upgraded version of the Green Pine anti-ballistic missile early warning radar "Block-B" model, with significant improvements in electronic counter-countermeasures performance, the number of simultaneously tracked targets, antenna gain, tracking precision, and accuracy in calculating impact points and launch origins. However, its detection range is known to fall short of 1,500 km.
