By Lee Tae-hoon
Korea has ruled out the possibility of jointly developing an attack helicopter with Turkey, which seeks to roll out a locally-developed rotary wing aircraft in 2023, senior officials of a state-run arms procurement agency said Wednesday.
“We have concluded that it is not feasible for Seoul to partner with Ankara in the development of a light armed helicopter because Turkish defense firms failed to demonstrate their firm commitment to do so and the two countries have conflicting deployment schedules,” an official of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.
The official pointed out that Korea plans to complete the development of its light armed helicopter with the help of a foreign partner by 2018 with a budget of 600 billion won ($532 million), while Turkey plans to do so by 2023.
“Upon a request from the Turkish government, Seoul early this year looked into the possibility of co-development and production of a combat helicopter with a maximum takeoff weight of 10,000 to 11,000 pounds,” he said.
“But we were very disappointed to find out that Turkish defense firms, including TAI, lack the technology necessary to build their own light chopper, nor have a strong willingness to forge a full-pledged partnership with us.”
He pointed out that the Turkish government is pressuring its defense firms to work closely with Korean companies with the aim of rolling out numerous new indigenous weapons systems in time for the 100th anniversary of the foundation of its republic, which falls in 2023.
A DAPA spokesman also confirmed that Turkey has been eliminated as Korea’s potential partner for the helicopter project, which is aimed at producing 214 helicopters to replace the country’s aging 500MDs and AH-1Ss.
He said Korea, which is scheduled to complete its exploratory development of the new helicopter by the end of the year, is negotiating with four other foreign firms for a possible partnership.
“Foreign manufacturers have completed the submission of documents in response to our request for information in June,” the official said, adding that the four companies are Bell, Sikorsky, Eurocopter and AgustaWestland.
He stressed that TAI did not respond to DAPA’s request, citing difficulties in meeting Korea’s demands.
A government official said that DAPA is still under pressure to forge a partnership with Turkey for the project as Ankara continues to voice concerns over a growing trade imbalance with Korea.
Turkey, which signed a free trade agreement with Korea on Wednesday, has long had an unfavorable balance of trade, including in the area of military products.
Korea’s exports to Turkey reached $5.1 billion, whereas its imports stood at only $0.8 billion last year.
Korea gave up the research and development of its own electronic warfare training system and instead purchased it from Turkey to help Ankara to overcome its trade imbalance with Seoul.