Four candidates short-listed in Korea's stealth jet project

Korea will acquire a new generation of stealth fighter jets from overseas to better counter North Korean provocations, the local defense procurement agency said Wednesday.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it has narrowed down the candidates to four fighters: the F-15SE Silent Eagle by Boeing, F-35 Lightning II by Lockheed Martin, Eurofighter Typhoon by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and the T-50 PAK-FA by Russian firm Sukhoi.

According to DAPA, the project to acquire 60 fifth-generation stealth fighters is worth 8.29 trillion won ($7.86 billion).

Korea is expected to choose the winner in October next year.

"We've eased the criteria for operational capabilities to ensure more jets could enter the bidding," the agency said in a statement. "We will set up strategies that will allow for the transfer of core technology and that will encourage competition."

DAPA said the new generation of fighters will better prepare Korea against North Korea's "asymmetric capabilities" and will enhance the South's deterrence against surprise air attacks.

The agency said Seoul will also acquire AH-X attack helicopters from overseas. The AH-1W SuperCobra by Bell and AH-64D Block III by Boeing, both American choppers, will compete with the EC-665 Tiger by Eurocopter of France and the T-129 by Turkey.

This project, worth 1.84 trillion won, will see Korea purchase 36 attack helicopters. The winner of the bid will also be announced in October next year. (Yonhap News)

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110720000961

Руси имају доста шанси на овом тендеру јер су спремни да лиценцирају критичне технологије за разлику од других где се трансфер технологије своди на спајање панела заковицима.

Ako ne racunamo samo vreme, jer je PAK FA daleko od serijske proizvodnje, protiv Rusa, a i Evropljana, ce najvise raditi Ameri. Ipak je njihov uticaj u Juznoj Koreji jak i sumnjam da ce propustiti priliku, da im nametnu kupovinu svoje robe.

Cudi me da ne ucestviju u tenderu za nabavku helikoptera. Bar bi imali vece sanse od Turaka.

То је италијански хеликоптер склопљен у Турској са нешто турских делова.
Не могу Турци сами да направе такав хеликоптер.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agusta_A129_Mangusta

Јужна Кореја жели сама да производи што је могуће више наоружања и војне технике. Са Русима већ од раније сарађују тако да сада имају систем сопствене производње који је базиран на С-300.

Znam da je italijanski model, koji Turci prave za sebe, samo nisam bio siguran koliko je njihovog, a koliko italijanskog u njemu.

Интересантан чланак.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MG12Dg01.html

According to a South Korean businessman who chose to remain anonymous, the South Korean Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP; today this agency is referred to as the National Intelligence Service) recruited him to utilize his business connections in the Russian Federation to bring back decommissioned missiles that were supposed to be scrapped.

 Mr "K" had been spending time in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky since 1996, scrapping decommissioned Soviet vessels and importing the metal for the Pohang Iron and Steel Company. When the Russian authorities authorized his company to scrap Soviet ballistic missiles formerly stationed in Ukraine, South Korean intelligence agents approached him with the highly secretive assignment.

 Since building the first ICBMs in 1956, the Soviet Union had been a leader in missile development and the Russian Federation inherited the lethal stockpile in complete political and economic disarray. Weapons like the R-36 and UR-100N with an operational range well over 10,000 kilometers and RT-2PM Topol with a three stage solid fuel propellant capable of carrying a 550 kiloton warhead were weapons that the world looked at with envy; and domestic conditions in Russia provided an opportunity too valuable for the South Korean defense agencies to forgo.

 With ANSP agents assisting him from Vladivostok, Mr "K" set about putting into motion plans to smuggle the Cold War's most advanced weapons to South Korea. In order to evade suspicions of Russian military staff and FSB (Federal Security Service) agents, Mr "K" explained that metals used in missiles were highly valued by Korean shipping companies and he paid around $700,000 to commanders of Russian missile bases to ''not ask questions'' about his business ventures. (That was a sweet deal for the commanders as at that time, with Russia in financial crisis and its economy in collapse, the cost of purchasing a three-bedroom apartment in the Russian Far East was about $6,000).

 Moving only by night to evade satellite detection from both the Russian and US governments, Mr "K" and his associates hid two propellants and enough components to build a whole ICBM among 5,000 tons of scrap metal that he regularly exported to South Korea. In November of 1998, the first shipment of ballistic missile components arrived in Inchon harbor and was secretly moved to ANSP research facilities.

 Mr "K" did two more runs on behalf of ANSP, in December of 2000 and November of 2001, succeeding in bringing back more intricate pieces of the ICBM including three more propulsion engines and parts of the nozzle. He had even received a medal from the then head of the ANSP, Lee Jongchan, "for contributing to national security".

 Problems occurred, however, in 2007 when the Russian Federation denied Mr K's re-entry to the Russian Far East on the (well-grounded) suspicion that he was engaged in espionage. With vast amount of his fortune and business in the Russian Far East, he immediately appealed to the South Korean Foreign Ministry; however, perhaps out of concern for blowing a suspicion into a full inquiry in Russia, the South Korean government refused to intervene on his behalf.