U.S. Worries About Growing South Korean Arms Exports

Rumors were circulating recently in the Korean military and defense industry that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating Korea's weapons production and exports.

"The rumors said that CIA and FBI agents have arrived and are investigating the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and defense firms to find out whether Korea has developed and exported weapons based on stolen U.S. military technologies," a government official said Thursday. "But our own probe into these rumors found no investigation of DAPA or defense firms by any U.S. agencies."

The rumors began circulating after an unusual joint Korea-U.S. investigation in September of suspicions that Korea illegally disassembled the Tiger Eye, a key component of the cutting-edge U.S.-made F-15K fighter jet equipment for low-altitude night penetration attacks.

In early June, U.S. officials raised suspicions that the seal of one box which the Air Force had sent to the U.S. for maintenance showed evidence of having been broken, disassembled and put back together again.

But a weeklong joint investigation in September failed to find proof that Korea had disassembled the Tiger Eye.

Afterwards, there was talk that the U.S. was probing whether Korea had stolen U.S. technologies, because it was very sensitive to Korean exports of the T-50 supersonic jet trainers and missiles.

A military source said, "It's true that the U.S. is responding sensitively to the increase in our arms exports and that it's holding our exports of weapons made with U.S. technological assistance strongly in check. But it would make no sense for the FBI, a U.S. agency tasked with investigating internal U.S. issues, to conduct an investigation here." The source said the rumors were probably spread to stoke anti-American sentiment.

Korea has recently emerged as the world's third largest arms market. The government plans to decide on weapons models worth more than W10 trillion (US$1=W1,131) in October next year alone. Major procurement plans include the third phase of the Air Force's F-X fighter acquisition program worth W8.3 trillion, the Army's AH-X attack helicopter project worth W1.8 trillion, and the Navy's maritime operations helicopter project worth W550 billion.

American and European firms are competing for a share of these projects partly because their own countries' arms markets have dwindled sharply in the wake of drastic military spending cuts.

The U.S. decided to cut US$350 billion in defense spending over the next decade, plus another likely $600 billion. Since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, European nations such as the U.K. and Germany have kept slashing their defense spending. The U.K. is putting some light aircraft carriers and vertical take-off and landing aircraft on the auction block.

"Some European firms are in such dire straits that this is a good opportunity for us to seek core technology transfers or mergers with them," a government source said.

Read More AT

http://english.chosun.com/

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog