South Korea will develop an indigenous long-range radar for air defense in order to replace old ones brought in from abroad, the arms procurement agency said Monday.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration signed a 46 billion won ($41 million) deal with LIG Nex1 Co. for the four-year development project with a plan to begin its deployment in 2027, the agency said.

The radar would be capable of monitoring and identifying aircraft inside the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) and sending information to the Air Force's Master Control and Reporting Center for defense operations.

The government had earlier pushed for a long-range radar development project with LIG Nex1 but the program was scrapped as what was under development at the time failed to meet the required performance criteria.

In an effort to raise the company's responsibility, the government had it shoulder 65 percent of the development cost in the joint development project, officials said.

"When the radar is deployed, a more thorough monitoring of the KADIZ will be possible and it is also expected to contribute to vitalizing the domestic defense industry by replacing the foreign radars with the locally developed one," an agency official said. (Yonhap)