North Korea’s unrelenting development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles has dominated defense planning around the Korean Peninsula for years, driving the South to bolster its own conventional forces and shore up nuclear deterrence with the U.S.

But as modern conflict evolves, a new inter-Korean arms race is now brewing to stay ahead in the coming age of electronic warfare (EW), where battles could be decided based on who controls the electromagnetic spectrum on which advanced weapons depend.

South Korea’s approval of a program to develop four new EW aircraft by 2034 has it on