S Korea, UK to Launch Research Project on Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier

South Korea and Britain are set to launch a research project on traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) for defense application following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Seoul’s the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Britain's Defense and Security Organisation (DSO).

Signed yesterday in Seoul, the MoU seeks joint research and development in technologies that can be applied to new weapons systems, a DAPA release said.

The deal will serve as a framework when the two countries conduct joint research programs or exchange information and scientists in the defense sector, according to the agency.

"I hope this MoU will serve as an opportunity to raise the level and scope of the two countries' defense cooperation," Wang Jung-hong, the chief of the arms procurement agency, said during talks with Mark Goldsack, director of the British organization, and British Ambassador to South Korea Simon Smith in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul.

The agreement will also pave the way for increased opportunities for the South Korean defense industry to take part in global joint research programs, which have been usually reserved for the government, it said.

A Traveling-Wave Tube or TWT Amplifier is a high power, high-frequency amplifier that is built using traveling wave tubes. A traveling-wave tube is a type of vacuum tube used to amplify high-frequency signals. The RF signal is amplified by absorbing power from a beam of electrons as it goes through the tube. It has wide applications in defense electronics such as Radars and Electronic Countermeasures.