Last month, the state-run Defense Acquisition Program Administration said that it is considering an overseas purchase of the active electronically scanned array radar for the Korean Fighter Experimental, or KF-X, project.
“We believe we can achieve development of AESA radar with our own technology but if we do not succeed, we will consider purchasing the radar as the worst case scenario,” a DAPA official said in a meeting with reporters.
He added that it was only a contingency plan, and that the agency was not currently considering it as an option.
But the prospect of acquiring foreign technology for South Korea’s first-ever homegrown fighter jet casts doubts on the country’s domestic development programs for military technology.
Korea Aerospace Industries
The military has frequently shifted its decisions regarding the development of military technologies when its original plans have gone awry, raising questions over a lack of planning regarding the nation’s defense capabilities.
The KF-X plan is an 18 trillion-won ($15.1 billion) project that will involve spending 8.1 trillion won in the development project alone from 2015 to 2026.
The project was initiated to replace retiring F-4 and F-5 jets by maximizing the use of domestic technology and infrastructure, and domesticizing major equipment and parts to develop fighter jets that Korea can independently improve the performance of.
For this reason, the Defense Ministry had said it would push to develop its own technologies and make up for insufficient areas with technological support from overseas.
But the project hit a major hurdle last year when the U.S. rejected South Korea’s request to transfer core technologies, which were to be applied to the KF-X jets, during Seoul’s purchase of its F-35 stealth fighter jets. The technologies in question were the AESA radar, radio frequency jammer, electronic optics targeting pod and infrared search and track system.
South Korea has since announced it would develop the core technologies itself.
The military last month selected Hanwha Thales as its priority negotiation partner in developing the advanced radar.
The decision itself sparked another controversy as the Defense Ministry and other related government bodies had often referred to the radar developing experience of LIG Nex1 Co. to counter arguments that the country cannot develop its own AESA radar, leading many to believe that the company would be the obvious choice.
A military official said that while LIG Nex1 was not inferior to its rival in technology, the overall score across all other categories including costs was in favor of Hanwha Thales. This indicated that the selection of Hanwha Thales may be more related to costs and other factors rather than technology itself.
DAPA announced last week that it chose General Electronics as the preferred bidder to supply twin engines for the KF-X project, drawing complaints that the technology for the new fighter jets was “too American.”
Rep. Kim Jong-dae of the minority opposition Justice Party, pointed out that the U.S. was generally reluctant to transfer its military know-how, raising concerns about Seoul relying heavily on equipment from other countries. The U.S.’ protective attitude was demonstrated in its refusal to transfer core technology from F-35.
Lingering questions remain on the feasibility of the domestic development of the fighter jet technology.
Another military official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that several high-ranking officials have had second thoughts on pushing ahead with the KF-X project, since the technology transfer plan has gone down the drain.
A DAPA official said that the contingency plan would be to ensure the completion of the KF-X by its deadline. The agency plans to complete the basic design of the jets by 2018.
In past cases, the military had also decided to buy equipment that they had originally planned to develop on their own.
Domestic technology was to be used for the TAC-ELINT pod installed on the RF-16 tactical reconnaissance aircraft currently used by the Air Force.
But an industrial source said that the development of one of the pod types -- originally to be completed by 2013 -- was delayed. The air force is currently using an Israeli-built pod for that particular type of reconnaissance.
Frequent flaws have also cast doubts upon domestically developed military technology.
The K-2 Black Panther tanks were also originally slated to be equipped with domestically-built power packs, which are the main components of a motor vehicle that generate power.
But in 2012, a year before its mass production, the agency had said that it would use foreign-built power packs if the domestic equipment was proven to be faulty. The initial 100 tanks ended up with German-built power packs, indicating defects in the Korean power packs.
The DAPA said on May 10 that defects were found in the homegrown Surion utility and that it would cooperate with related agencies to fix the problem.
By Yoon Min-sik (
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)