The airplane will fly at an altitude of more than 20 kilometersmiles), which would be out of range for ground-based missiles, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

The plane will be capable of monitoring facilities in the Korean peninsula from public airspace, without violating the territorial airspace of other nations, it said.

The remote-controlled plane will be the same size as a Boeing 767 with a wingspan of some 46 meters (152 feet), the newspaper said.

The government plans to invest 1.9 billion yen (15.8 million dollars) through March 2008 to develop the airplane, the newspaper said.

SPACE.WIRE