Posted on 01/29/2011 7:10:38 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
S. Korea seeking early purchase of stealth jets: sources
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is moving to introduce the fifth generation of stealth fighter jets at an early date to replace its aging Air Force fighters and to secure capabilities to counter North Korea's increasing provocations, government sources said Sunday.
The move comes after the parliament cut the defense ministry's request for some 15.7 billion won (US$14 million) to launch a new fighter jet procurement program this year, granting only 300 million won.
"There is a growing consensus within the government that the next-generation fighter program must be launched at an early date," a government source said, asking not to be identified.
"There is only a 300 million won fund for research this year, but (the government) may allocate additional funds from its defense budget if necessary," he added.
South Korea purchased 60 F-15K fighter jets from U.S. manufacturer Boeing under an earlier program, known as FX II, and is set to have some of the remaining 20 aircraft from the program delivered before the end of next year.
The military earlier sought to launch an FX III program this year to have new fighter jets commissioned in 2016.
The government now seeks to introduce and weaponize new stealth fighters before the target year.
"It usually takes about four years for the first shipment of aircraft after a contract is signed, which means the new aircraft can be commissioned from as early as 2015," said an official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
The recent increase of frequency and intensity of North Korean provocations is apparently adding to the military's urgent sense of a need to introduce stealth fighter jets, after the country once considered introducing fighter jets with only partial stealth capabilities.
"There has been a call for the military's increased capabilities for precision strikes since North Korea's provocations in the northwestern region last year," a government source said. "And this has also led to a growing voice in the government to speed up the next fighter jet program."
North Korea sank a South Korean warship, Cheonan, near a western border in the Yellow Sea last year, killing 46 South Korean sailors. Then in November, the communist nation hit a South Korean island, also near the border, with artillery shells, killing two civilians and two armed service members in the first direct attack on a South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The new fighter jet program is expected to be worth some 10 trillion won ($8.97 billion). Possible candidates for jets include Boeing's F-15SE and Lockheed Martin's F-35, sources said.
bdk@yna.co.kr (END)
Oh..! Their real defense needs are so urgent and pressing and their budgetary constraints so sharp that they’ll just go and develop their own stealth fighter, huh?
They’ll do alllll that, from the ground up in uh....say...15 years minimum @ a price 4x what they might pay the USA for the F-35....?
Sorry but that just DOES NOT compute at all.
I must be missing something.
This sounds even more stupid that the whole F16/FSX thing with Japan 20 years ago.
They say “procurement” so presumably this means FMS...?
I sure hope so cuz the clock is TICKING.
Maybe they’ll buy them frm China........
One could counter that they probably COULD design, develop, and build their own stealth fighter before the F-35 enters service....and probably a better and cheaper plane.
One could counter that they probably COULD design, develop, and build their own stealth fighter before the F-35 enters service....and probably a better and cheaper plane.
One factory per district, plus outsourcing more engine sources to Kia, Hyundai, in order to entice more risk-sharing (read bribes).
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