(Asien) Südkoreanische Luftwaffe

[Quintus Fabius]

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By Shin Hyon-hee
Washington has agreed in principal to transfer the 21 sets of technologies essential for Seoul’s drive to introduce its own fighter jets, officials here said Wednesday, though uncertainties remain over some undecided subcategories.
A delegation of officials from South Korea’s defense and foreign ministries and state arms procurement agency held meetings with their U.S. counterparts in Washington last week to drum up their support for the KF-X program, after the State Department vetoed export licenses for four core technologies and indicated a potential delay in its decision on the other 21 fields.
Following three-day talks, the officials secured a “broad approval” for the handover by Lockheed Martin, they said, though they will need to have additional consultations over “some areas that require technical specifications.”

The Defense Ministry and DAPA have come under fire as they had asserted that Washington would give the green signal for transfer of all the 21 sets in an apparent attempt to defuse mounting criticism over its failure to secure the other four. They are vital in building integrated systems respectively for an active electronically scanned array radar, electro optical targeting pod, infrared search-and-track and radio frequency jammer.

Under the 18.1 trillion won ($15.54 billion) initiative, KAI and the state-run Agency for Defense Development intend to unveil South Korea’s first KF warplanes by 2025 and deploy 120 units by 2032 with the assistance of Lockheed.

“The two countries agreed on the strategic significance of the KF-X program, and the U.S. reaffirmed that it will provide support to the maximum extent possible,” Defense Acquisition Program Administration spokesperson Kim Si-cheol said at a news conference.

Einsteigen und als Ersatz für den Eurofighter beschaffen.