Here is the latest on South Korea’s efforts to develop a new fighter jet:
The State Department said Tuesday, amid skepticism over the project’s prospects following the U.S.’ refusal to hand over core technologies.
The department has denied export licenses for the four technologies conditionally promised last year to be transferred by U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, citing its national technology protection policy. The four are critical in crafting integrated systems for an active electronically scanned array radar, electro optical targeting pod, infrared search-and-track and radio frequency jammer.
Instead, the two countries’ defense ministers agreed last October to set up a working group to boost cooperation to facilitate the 18.1 trillion won ($15.55 billion) program, nicknamed KF-X or Boramae. South Korea hopes to unveil its first KF-16-class warplanes by 2025 and deploy 120 units by 2032.
“The U.S. continues to support the Republic of Korea’s defense programs and priorities through the transfer of many of our most sensitive defense technologies. We seek to support the KF-X indigenous fighter program to the maximum extent possible,” department spokesperson Katina Adams told Yonhap News.
“The U.S. government is in discussions with Lockheed Martin to address ROK areas of concern. We will continue to work closely with Lockheed Martin throughout this process to ensure continued support to the KF-X program.” [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but I am sure Lockheed Martin would love to sell South Korea some Joint Strike Fighters instead.
Despite their best efforts it looks like the ROK will not be receiving the technology transfer they requested any time soon:
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter refused Thursday to accept South Korea’s request for the transfer of key American technologies necessary for Seoul’s “KF-X” indigenous jet fighter development project, officials said.
Carter stated the position when South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo asked him to reconsider the decision to reject the technology transfer during a meeting at the Pentagon, the South’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. Han has been in Washington to accompany President Park Geun-hye on an official visit.
Carter said, however, that he would study ways of technological cooperation, the statement said. The two ministers also agreed to establish a consultative forum to discuss ways to increase cooperation in defense technology, including the KF-X project, it said.
The Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) project, under which South Korea is to produce 120 combat jets, hit a snag after the U.S. Department of State in April refused to grant permission for U.S.-based Lockheed Martin’s export of four out of the 25 fighter jet technologies it has promised Seoul. [Korea Times]
Air Force soldiers fire a Patriot missile during an air-defense artillery contest in the city of Boryeong on South Korea’s west coast on Oct. 13, 2015. The Air Force said the two missiles they fired successfully destroyed two target drones. (Yonhap)
It looks like South Korea’s F-16s are about to get some further upgrade work done:
The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $2.5 billion sale in F-16 upgrades to South Korea as part of Seoul’s effort to revamp its aging fighter fleet.
The sale, announced this week, would contribute to the security of both the U.S. and South Korea, which faces an ever-present threat of hostilities from North Korea, said the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
“This upgrade allows (South Korea) to protect and maintain critical airspace and provide a powerful defensive and offensive capability to preserve the security of the Korean peninsula and its vital national assets. (South Korea) will have no difficulty absorbing this additional equipment and support into its armed forces,” said a statement from the agency, which notified Congress of the possible sale on Tuesday.
The upgrades would include modular mission computers, radars, navigation systems and other equipment and logistical support, according to DSCA. [Stars & Stripes]
A light aircraft used for Air Force pilot training remains in a stream in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province, central South Korea, on June 25, 2015, after making an emergency landing, in this photo provided by the Okcheon Fire Station. A maintenance man aboard the plane was injured in the incident. (Yonhap)
Hopefully the spread of MERS is contained so the people in Pyeongtaek can get back to normal lives. Fortunately the ROK Air Force servicemember who tested positive for MERS recently has recovered:
A truck emits disinfectant smoke around Saint Mary’s Hospital in Pyeongtaek on Wednesday. South Korea’s first MERS patient spent three days in the hospital, spreading the disease to at least 30 others. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea—A city best known by many for its nearby U.S. military base and surrounding rice paddies became ground zero as a deadly virus rarely seen outside the Middle East began to spread through South Korea.
At St. Mary’s Hospital in a newly developing industrial area of Pyeongtaek, about 35 miles south of Seoul, doctors puzzled for three days in mid-May over the flulike condition of a 68-year-old man, who hadn’t disclosed at that point that he had recently returned from the Middle East.
The man left St. Mary’s and was later admitted to a larger hospital in Seoul, where he was ultimately diagnosed with Middle East respiratory syndrome and was quarantined. But during that time in St. Mary’s, the man spread the MERS virus to more than 30 people. (…………………………)
A South Korean Defense Ministry official said one Korean man stationed at the Osan Air Base near Pyeongtaek who tested positive for MERS would be released on Thursday. The air base is close to the main U.S. military base of Camp Humphreys for which Pyeongtaek is known.
St. Mary’s was the first hospital named by the government as being part of the MERS outbreak. All patients, including MERS sufferers, have been moved to other hospitals. [Wall Street Journal via reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to learn why MERS spread so widely in various hospitals as well as why so few people have died compared to outbreaks in the Middle East.
It will be interesting to see where this important airbase is relocated to and if the Patriot missile units located there will follow them:
U.S. military officials have yet to determine where a Patriot missile battery will be stationed after its current site, a South Korean air base, closes.
Suwon Air Base, roughly 20 miles south of Seoul, will be relocated following noise and damage complaints and a formal request from the local government, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense recently announced.
Four batteries with the U.S. 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade are stationed there along with South Korea’s 10th Fighter Wing. A U.S. airman from the 607th Materiel Maintenance Squadron is also permanently stationed at Suwon.
The base’s relocation, which could take a decade, is projected to cost $6.3 million, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency has reported. The defense ministry said the search for a new site will begin soon. No particular sites are under consideration for the relocation of the base or the U.S. forces stationed there, an MND spokesman said. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but fortunately the ROK Air Force has given themselves 10 years to figure out where the new airbase will go.
It appears that Airbus is about to try and enter the Korean defense market:
South Korea’s top carrier airline Korean Air Lines Co. (Korean Air) is poised to participate in a bid for South Korea’s fighter jet development program in association with Europe’s Airbus. Under the development program, code-named KF-X, South Korea will develop and produce about 120 fighter jets to replace its old models.
An informed official told several Korean media outlets, including Segye Ilbo, that Korean Air and Airbus reached a verbal agreement earlier this week to jointly bid for the development project.
The official’s comment was given anonymously, but it immediately brought media attention as the news is expected to open a new chapter for the government’s development plan. So far, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has been considered the strongest candidate for winning this project. [The Diplomat]
