South Korea’s DAPA Finishes Incheon Class Frigate Search Radar Upgrade

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on July 10 completed a project to improve the search radar on the Republic of Korea Navy’s Incheon‑class frigate, ensuring higher reliability and longer service life for the ship’s primary sensor system.

The search radar detects surface and air targets and feeds three‑dimensional data—bearing, range, and altitude—to the combat management system for fire‑control tasks. The original radar, in service since 2013, had begun to suffer from reduced cooling capacity and growing maintenance demands on key parts.

To resolve those issues, DAPA introduced a new refrigerant‑based cooling method in the environmental control unit and adjusted water‑flow controls. Engineers also swapped the silicon‑based transmitter/receiver assembly for a gallium nitride (GaN) unit that generates less heat and consumes less power. The radar’s power supply moved from a series to a parallel circuit layout, reducing single‑point failure risk.

The project is the first completed since DAPA assigned overall management of legacy‑system upgrades to the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality in 2023, demonstrating that agency’s ability to oversee complex refit work.

DAPA said further efforts are planned to address other legacy subsystems aboard Incheon‑class frigates under the same programme.