The United States Forces Korea (USFK)said Tuesday in a news release that it completed the deployment of Patriot PAC-3 Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Brigade last week in South Korea.

The enhancement is part of USFK's 11 billion US dollar project to upgrade the regional capabilities.

The 8th US Army of the USFK had been shifting since late April its 35th Air Defense Brigade located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and its two upgraded Patriot missile batteries to South Korea.

The new missile brigade will be headquartered in the US air base in Osan, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, and its two missile batteries will be based in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul.

The US military had kept the missile deployment low profile as residents in Gwangju vehemently protested against the move, saying that it would turn the area into a US military city. The missiles are deployed inside the Gwangju airport, which is used for both civilian and military planes.

In the release, the USFK delivered thanks to cooperation of theGwangju citizens for the deployment.

The deployment is key to Washington's force improvement programto compensate for its plan to drastically reduce its force level in South Korea.

The United States has said it would withdraw one third of its 37,500 troops from South Korea by September 2008, but its securitycommitment to South Korea will not be diminished and it will spend11 billion dollars by 2006 to equip its forces in South Korea withsophisticated weapons.

The new weapons systems the US military is to introduce includehigh-speed vessels, AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters and Stryker armored vehicles as well as the two Patriot missile batteries.

Source: Xinhua