S Korea Welcomes Its First E-737 'Peace-Eye' Aircraft

**xinhui** · 26 Sep 11,, 20:17

Korea Welcomes Its First E-737 'Peace-Eye' Aircraft
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Arirang | Korea for the World, The World for Korea - Arirang.co.kr
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The South Korean Air Force added to its military assets on Wednesday an aircraft that is capable of independent intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, and aerial surveillance of North Korea.
The plane called the "Peace Eye" is the E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft manufactured by Boeing.
More than 3-hundred people, including top military officials, politicians and distinguished guests attended the hand-over ceremony held at the Kimhae airbase in southeastern Korea on Wednesday.
In his congratulatory speech, Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin expressed high hopes for the new aircraft.

[Interview : Kim Kwan-jin, Minister of National Defense] "The "Peace Eye" will enhance our military to be fit for network-based missions and precisioned attacks. It will act as a bastion to defend the Korean Peninsula not only against North Korea, but any forces that threaten our territorial rights."

This is one out of the four "Peace Eyes" bought from Boeing.
Along with the hand over ceremony, the crowd was able to cheer on a special airshow put together by the Black Eagles.
Meanwhile the Air Force commanding officer in charge says that the "Peace Eye" will enable Korea to not rely heavily on US reconnaissance aircraft anymore.

[Interview : Jang Myoung-soo, Commander
51st Air Control Flight Groups] "With the introduction of the "Peace Eye," we can detect the enemy faster and contribute greatly to the security of the Korean Peninsula."

The aircraft will be a command-and-control center in the sky which will guide tactical air force aircraft to targets at low altitudes.
It is also capable of simultaneously detecting around 1-thousand enemy aircraft and is equipped with a 360 degree surveillance radar, which will be able to detect suspicious movements both in airspace and waters near North Korea.

[Interview : Kim Han-ul, chkim@arirang.co.kr] "This is one out of four Peace Eyes scheduled to be delivered here by 2013. The remaining aircraft will be systematically assembled in Korea under Boeing's management.
Kim Han-ul, Arirang News, Kimhae."

SEP 22, 2011

**Zinja** · 27 Sep 11,, 20:19

Why do military key boards always look so out of date? I was looking at another one on an Ageis DDG, my home key board looks better.

**Doktor** · 27 Sep 11,, 20:44

Originally Posted by Zinja

Why do military key boards always look so out of date? I was looking at another one on an Ageis DDG, my home key board looks better.

Maybe for an extended lifetime? I still have my first keyboard which still works fine. The one on the fancy laptop is bollox.

**Stitch** · 27 Sep 11,, 20:52

Doktor's probably right; my 1999 Acer keyboard has outlasted my "fancy" HP keyboard. The military is probably looking at reliability rather than "newness".

**Doktor** · 27 Sep 11,, 20:57

Speaking of keyboards, why on every movie they make weird sounds?

The more advanced the system the more annoying the sound coming from the keyboard.

**Jimmy** · 28 Sep 11,, 01:03

Originally Posted by Zinja

Why do military key boards always look so out of date? I was looking at another one on an Ageis DDG, my home key board looks better.

Most of them are decades old. They look ancient because they ARE.

**Chogy** · 28 Sep 11,, 14:27

It is the internal mechanism on those old keyboards. The old "tactile" keyboards have keys designed to imitate the IBM "selectric" and other electric typewriters of the time. Rather than printed circuit boards with polymer bubbles to provide the feel, each one is a well-made electric switch, very expensive and very durable. I may not be describing it well, but these are built like a tank rather than a $14.99 modern PC keyboard.

The shell surrounding the keyboard is probably sheet aluminum. And if a key goes bad, they can replace the individual key, if I'm not mistaken.

The next time you are at a gate at an airport, take a look, it's the same thing for the gate agents. Very old, but very durable keyboards that "click." Some of them have the legends worn off the keys!

**highsea** · 28 Sep 11,, 20:42

Originally Posted by Chogy

...The next time you are at a gate at an airport, take a look, it's the same thing for the gate agents. Very old, but very durable keyboards that "click." Some of them have the legends worn off the keys!

When IBM first introduced the PC, they had a Clavier Keyboard. They had that "clack" sound too. Excellent keyboards, I always saved them when I swapped out a computer. I would sell them to medical transcriptionists for $100 used. Professional typists know the difference.

The early KB101's were pretty good, but the Clavier's were the best. And you couldn't wear off the legends, they were molded into the key.

I hate the cheapo membrane keyboards of today. Like typing on a sponge.

Nice seats in that Korean wedgetail. Too bad we don't get those in commercial airlines...

**gunnut** · 28 Sep 11,, 22:50

My keyboards at home are usually the $2 special I pick up at Fry's. I love them because I tend to break keyboards when I rage while playing a game. They are easy to break and cheap to replace.

**avon1944** · 28 Nov 11,, 07:12

Originally Posted by Zinja

Why do military key boards always look so out of date? I was looking at another one on an Ageis DDG, my home key board looks better.

Most likely it involves Mil Specs!

**gf0012-aust** · 28 Nov 11,, 07:51

Originally Posted by avon1944

Most likely it involves Mil Specs!

actually they do.

I've been involved in progs where they keys are sized and impact rated specifically so that an operator wearing gloves can undertale their required tasks in the same timeframe as someone without protective gloves etc....

eg 2 transactions in under "nn" seconds" without accidentally striking neighbouring keys. If the operator can't conduct their tests in the required timeframe then there is an issue

its a human factors issue - and we all design or review gear under those HMI requirements

**gf0012-aust** · 28 Nov 11,, 07:53

Originally Posted by Doktor

Speaking of keyboards, why on every movie they make weird sounds?

The more advanced the system the more annoying the sound coming from the keyboard.

see my prev + this

the keys have an audible click as its part of the safety hazard analysis specs. eg an operator can hear the strike as well as feel it if in a compromised state.

the annoying sound is there for a reason.

**jlvfr** · 28 Nov 11,, 11:19

And the softpad keyboards are usually more tiring to use, since with most, you actually need to apply greater preassure to depress the key...

**Doktor** · 28 Nov 11,, 11:58

Originally Posted by gf0012-aust

see my prev + this

the keys have an audible click as its part of the safety hazard analysis specs. eg an operator can hear the strike as well as feel it if in a compromised state.

the annoying sound is there for a reason.

So the more advanced the system is, the more deaf the operator is? It was a joke question.

**Chogy** · 28 Nov 11,, 16:09

I thought the ability to replace one key "in situ" is most important. Underneath a cheap keyboard is a single printed circuit board, and when you press a key, you are placing a conductive pad across two contacts directly on the board. So if a key goes bad and cleaning the contacts doesn't fix it, the whole board is trash. But these mil grade keyboards have individual switches beneath the keys, correct? Like a snap-action microswitch.

Given that the keyboards are integral with the station, if you lose your "a" key, and you can't operate the station, one must be able to fix it fast.