The Allied Korea Joint Command and Control System, an essential platform for South Korea-U.S. combined operations, will be upgraded by 2029 in preparation for the transfer of wartime operational control, or OPCON, from the U.S. 

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA, said Monday that it will invest 117-point-eight billion won, or about 84-point-nine million U.S. dollars, from this year through 2029 to upgrade the system so that South Korea can take the lead in combined operations after the OPCON transfer.  

Contractors will be selected within the year. 

The Allied Korea Joint Command and Control System is used in South Korea-U.S. joint military operations on the Korean Peninsula and is currently employed in exercises such as the Ulchi Freedom Shield. 

Part of the investment will be used to build cloud servers and virtual desktop infrastructure. 

Systems for automatic translation and interpretation as well as videoconferencing will also be introduced. 

DAPA said this will mark the first major upgrade since the system was first deployed in 2015, adding that the goal is to fully modernize the system by 2029.