S Korea's military plans 10 test launches of red shark missile

The South Korean military will hold ten more trial launches of the domestically developed antisubmarine missile "Red Shark" before deciding on its deployment. The South Korean Defense Ministry and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration will fire four practice shots of the missile between the third week of October and the first week of November and analyze the results. This comes after its first trial launch failed in July, according to South Korea's (KBS WORLD) website. The plan then calls for the firing of two actual torpedoes this year and four more next year. An official at the administration said that for the practice shots, measuring devices will be attached to the missile in a bid to find the cause of the failed launch. He said improvements based off the results will be made to the 50 Red Shark missiles supplied to the military for their redeployment. A Defense Ministry official said the decision to hold ten trial launches before deploying the missiles follows President Lee Myung-bak's orders.