South Korea Bulks Up on Dive Weapons

StrategyWorld.com reports that South Korea is buying an unspecified number of Cerberus Diver Detection Systems to protect its harbors from attack by terrorists or North Korean commandos. The Cerberus Diver Detection System is a refrigerator-sized device that is lowered to the ocean floor in the middle of the area to guard. Cerberus uses sonar to detect anything large enough to be a threat, up to 3,000 feet away. Cerberus works well in shallow water, and once in place, it can be tweaked by the operator to be even more accurate.

North Korean commandos are known to have scuba gear, and are trained for underwater attacks. South Korea is not specifying how many Cerberus systems it is buying or where exactly it is placing them, as that kind of information would enable the North Koreans to plan attacks on port areas without Cerberus systems.

There are other types of underwater weapons in current stages of development. As we reported in our August 2007 issue, various firms are developing sonartype devices that can locate divers or disable them. One device uses high-resolution sonar to create sound waves that are tuned to cause severe gastric distress in humans, essentially making them hurl into their regulator. But according to StrategyWorld, this system has not yet been made available for purchase, as there may not be a large enough market to justify it. For all the talk about scubaequipped terrorists, there are no official reports about this sort of thing actually happening. Hopefully, they won't be happening along the Korean peninsula.