hankyoreh

calling the program a waste of money and asking that it be reviewed from the beginning before a jet fighter purchase is made

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

The Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which is in charge of the country’s next-generation jet fighter project, said that it will not reassess the project. Instead, it will opt for Boeing F-15SE, the last remaining candidate in the project, even if the fighter comes in last in the overall assessment.

“If there had been any legal or procedural problems during the project, we would have to start over again, but the entire process has been conducted transparently, and it has been open to the press and to the National Assembly,” one senior DAPA official said at a briefing with newspaper executives on Aug. 28. “We have to bring the project to a close.”

The official indicated that the agency was planning on selecting the F-15SE, which is the only candidate remaining in the process.

At present, the only jet that DAPA can select is the F-15SE, since it was the only fighter whose bid was within the project budget of 8.3 trillion won (US$7.46 billion). The F-35 and Eurofighter Typhoon were eliminated for making bids that exceeded the project’s total budget.

It is expected that DAPA will present its opinion at the Defense Project Promotion Committee (chaired by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin) when it convenes in mid-September.

When asked whether the F-15SE would be purchased even if it got the lowest score on the overall assessment, this official said, “Since all three of the fighters exceeded the minimum required score, the difference between the individual scores is not that significant.” The comment implies that, since the F-15SE has the required operational capability (ROC), there would be no problem with selecting it as the final candidate even if it scores the lowest in the overall assessment.

The official also explained why the agency is not going to reassess the project itself. “The other manufacturers are asking us to reassess the project and increase the budget,” the official said. “If we reassess it, the price will go up. That’s what the manufacturers want.”

“This problem occurred because two of the manufacturers’ bids exceeded the overall project budget,” the official added. “I think that we should go ahead with the original plan.”

DAPA points to the fact that there have been no legal or procedural problems with the project, which has been underway for the past year and eight months, as the reason why it must select the F-15SE. It says that all of the steps so far - performance review, technical and contractual requirements, negotiations for offset requirements, and bidding on the price - have been completed fairly, and that all that remains is the provisional contract, the overall assessment, and the decision of the promotion committee, which are scheduled for later this month.

One issue is that, if the last candidate is rejected by the promotion committee and the project has to be rebooted altogether, it is expected that it would take at least one or two years to select a new fighter.

Between 2013 and 2020, the South Korean air force is planning the retire about 100 of the F-4 and F-5 fighters currently in use. As a result of this, the air force explains, delaying the timing of the project might mean that the total number of fighters would dip as much as 100 below the 430 total that it normally must maintain.

The air force is emphasizing that the next-generation fighter project must be carried out without delay because of the expected shortfall in the number of fighters.

It also appears that there has been a change in the government’s position on the matter. It was clear that the previous administration led by Lee Myung-bak had favored Lockheed-Martin’s F-35A, and there had been rumors that the government would increase the budget by around 20% so that it could purchase this more expensive fighter.

Lee also faced public opposition when he indicated that he would simplify the bidding procedure so that the final decision could be made on the fighter before the end of his term as president.

But the mood has changed altogether since Park Geun-hye became president. The new administration has reportedly shown no particular preference for the F-35A, nor has it accepted demands to increase the budget.

“There are a lot of things that the current government needs to spend its money on, and it does not seem particularly interested in the next-generation fighter project,” said Yang Uk, a senior researcher with the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODEF). “For this reason, it does not appear that the government will increase the budget and start the project over.”

The problem is that the F-15SE does not exactly correspond to the description of the high-performance fighter that the government had intended to acquire through this project. The original model of the fighter in question - the F-15 - was developed 41 years ago in 1972. It will be 50 years old in 2021, when the purchase phase is completely finished according to DAPA’s plans.

It is claimed that the fighter uses paint to achieve the stealth effect that the Korean air force wants, but it remains an open question whether that actually works effectively.

“The manufacturer says it can make the plane a stealth fighter by applying paint to the outside and by making an internal weapons bay, but this would make it more expensive to develop, operate, and maintain the plane,” said Lee Hui-u, director of the Integrated Logistics Support Institute at Chungnam National University. “If we are going to purchase an F-15SE, it would be better to buy the existing F-15K instead.”

Experts continue to take conflicting positions about the future of the project. There are some who agree that the F-15SE should be selected but who think South Korea should get more in terms of performance, price, and technology transfer.

“It doesn’t have superior stealth ability, but if it is equipped with electronic warfare capabilities such as AESA radar, the F-15SE is good enough,” Yang said. “The key is for it to possess electronic warfare capabilities.”

“8.3 trillion won is too expensive for the F-15SE,” said Kim Jong-dae, editor of the journal Defense 21+. “The price should be lowered further through additional negotiations, and we have to get a promise for the transfer of technology that can be used for the jet fighter project.”

However, there are also those who believe that further consideration is needed in regard to whether to select the F-15SE or to start the program over.

“It is difficult to conclude that choosing the F-15SE is the best we can do in this project,” said Lee. “The government must think carefully about whether it should rush into purchasing a fighter with inferior performance, or whether it should think long-term and buy a more appropriate fighter.”

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