S. Korea to fast-track purchase of warplanes
Source: Agencies |
March 9, 2011, Wednesday
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SOUTH Korea unveiled a series of military reforms yesterday, including fast-tracking the purchase of fighter jets and spy planes, in response to two deadly attacks on the peninsula last year.
President Lee Myung-bak said reforming the military was not a matter of choice but a must after last year's incidents, according to a presidential spokesman.
Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin said Seoul would purchase high-altitude spy drones and stealth fighter jets and deploy them earlier than planned to strengthen deterrence against North Korea. They were initially scheduled for deployment in 2015.
"The aim is to proactively deter current threats posed by the enemy rather than cope with potential threats in the future," Kim said in Seoul.
The military will also purchase advanced artillery-detecting radar systems and precision-guided weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) to neutralize North Korea's artillery pieces hidden in mountain caves, the ministry said.
North Korea has more than 5,000 multiple-launch rockets pointed at Seoul which, with its satellite cities, is home to some 25 million people.
For nearly 60 years, the two Koreas have faced each other across one of the world's most heavily armed borders. They have never signed a peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Last year Seoul asked Washington to sell it US-made RQ-4 Global Hawk spy planes and it expects to receive final approval for the planned purchase from the US Defense Department in June, a military source told Yonhap news agency.
South Korea's military had originally planned to introduce the unmanned spy drones by 2015 but will speed up the deployment of the world's most advanced reconnaissance planes to strengthen its intelligence abilities, according to the source.
At the same time, South Korea will buy 60 stealth fighter jets earlier than scheduled, a senior official at the defence ministry was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing's newly designed F-15 Silent Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by the European consortium are expected to compete for the order estimated at 10 trillion won (US$8.93 billion).
South Korea has purchased 60 of Boeing's F-15 fighter jets under the first two stages of the fighter modernization program, code-named F-X, since 2002.
President Lee Myung-bak said reforming the military was not a matter of choice but a must after last year's incidents, according to a presidential spokesman.
Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin said Seoul would purchase high-altitude spy drones and stealth fighter jets and deploy them earlier than planned to strengthen deterrence against North Korea. They were initially scheduled for deployment in 2015.
"The aim is to proactively deter current threats posed by the enemy rather than cope with potential threats in the future," Kim said in Seoul.
The military will also purchase advanced artillery-detecting radar systems and precision-guided weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) to neutralize North Korea's artillery pieces hidden in mountain caves, the ministry said.
North Korea has more than 5,000 multiple-launch rockets pointed at Seoul which, with its satellite cities, is home to some 25 million people.
For nearly 60 years, the two Koreas have faced each other across one of the world's most heavily armed borders. They have never signed a peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Last year Seoul asked Washington to sell it US-made RQ-4 Global Hawk spy planes and it expects to receive final approval for the planned purchase from the US Defense Department in June, a military source told Yonhap news agency.
South Korea's military had originally planned to introduce the unmanned spy drones by 2015 but will speed up the deployment of the world's most advanced reconnaissance planes to strengthen its intelligence abilities, according to the source.
At the same time, South Korea will buy 60 stealth fighter jets earlier than scheduled, a senior official at the defence ministry was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing's newly designed F-15 Silent Eagle and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by the European consortium are expected to compete for the order estimated at 10 trillion won (US$8.93 billion).
South Korea has purchased 60 of Boeing's F-15 fighter jets under the first two stages of the fighter modernization program, code-named F-X, since 2002.
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