SEOUL — The South Korean military preliminarily selected Korea Aerospace Industries on Monday as a partner in its $7.7 billion project to develop its own advanced jet fighter with technological help from the American military contractor Lockheed Martin.
Korea Aerospace Industries, based in Sacheon on the country’s south coast, and Korean Air were the only companies vying for what has been billed as South Korea’s biggest arms procurement project. Under the so-called KF-X program, the country plans to spend 9.6 trillion won, or $8.7 billion, in addition to development costs, to deploy 120 twin-engine fighters, by 2032.
South Korea wants to use the sizable demand for fighter jets by its military to build a domestic aerospace industry and eventually break into the international market, experts say.
”It’s too big a risk for South Korea to try to break into the commercial aerospace market first, given the small demand at home and entry barriers abroad,” said Cho Jin-soo, a professor at Hangyang University in Seoul, who served as an adviser for the South Korean Air Force with the KF-X program. “Thankfully, the South Korean military creates a domestic market that is just enough to help a domestic developer break even. There aren’t many countries in the world the size of South Korea that demand as many military jets as it does.”
Korea Aerospace Industries had been widely expected to win the deal because it is the only domestic company that has designed, built and exported a jet plane, the T-50 trainer.
In a news release Monday, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said it would nail down prices and other details with the company before formally selecting it as the KF-X partner by the end of June.
In September, South Korea agreed to buy 40 F-35A fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, paying an estimated $115 million per aircraft. As part of the deal, Lockheed agreed to transfer key technology to help the KF-X program.
South Korea relies heavily on the United States, its traditional ally, for military planes and other weapons needed to guard against North Korea. But it has long aspired to build its own fighter aircraft to cut the high costs and difficulties of maintaining American hardware; the military has complained that jets have been grounded for days because parts have been delayed.
In building a domestic industry with the project, South Korea is deploying a strategy it has used to expand its export industries in shipbuilding, car manufacturing and electronics: first acquiring technological knowledge from foreign partners, then reworking or improving on the technology.
With its KF-X project, South Korea plans to develop a fighter similar to Lockheed’s F-16 Fighting Falcon, but with twin engines, improved radar and other combat capabilities. The first flight is planned for 2025.
Korea Aerospace Industries is now exporting the T-50, a supersonic trainer jet that it developed jointly with Lockheed, to Indonesia and Iraq. It also has a deal to export the FA-50, a lightweight fighter based on the T-50, to the Philippines and has sold some to the South Korean Air Force.
The acquisition agency also said Monday that it had chosen the American military contractor Raytheon to improve its Patriot missile defense system and that it would buy an undisclosed number of Patriot Advanced Capability-3, or PAC-3, missiles from the United States.
The improvement was necessary to protect South Korea from North Korea’s growing threats from nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, the agency said.
Separately, the United States military wants to deploy an advanced missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense in South Korea. Seoul has said it has no intention of buying the system, even if Washington wants to deploy it as part of its military presence in South Korea.
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