US defense firms vie to court Park

By Kim Tae-gyu

President Park Geun-hye, left, speaks to Korean staff members of the United Nations at the UN headquarters in New York, Monday (local time), as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon looks on. / Yonhap

NEW YORK ― President Park Geun-hye’s U.S. visit has significant implications for South Korea because she has a series of tough challenges to tackle during the week-long visit against the backdrop of recent threats from North Korea.

For U.S. defense companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, however, Park’s visit is a precious opportunity to impress the President with who they seek to strike multi-billion dollar deals that they are competing for.

Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin are two of three rivals that were shortlisted to be a potential winner of Korea’s F-X project worth over 8 trillion won.

Boeing made the first move, promising to funnel $120 million to build a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) center for F-15K Slam Eagle avionics component in Yeongcheon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The aerospace corporation made the pledge Monday during the Park administration’s meeting with foreign companies that want to invest in Korea in the not-so-distant future.

It is not certain whether this will impress Park but it did make an impression on a cabinet minister.

“The investment will boost Korea’s aerospace industry. We also expect that Korea will be able to become Boeing’s MRO hub in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick.

And Boeing will make additional efforts to win Park’s attention because a source said that a major figure in Boeing will attend a roundtable meeting with U.S. business representatives today.

“During the roundtable meeting, Boeing is expected to gain acknowledgement with the proposed investment,” said the source who asked not to be named.

However, Lockheed Martin will not sit idly by because CEO Marillyn Hewson will also be at the meeting with President Park.

But even if either representative succeeds in impressing Park, it won’t necessarily guarantee a deal because the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) committee headed by the minister of national defense will most likely make the final decision.

The DAPA is scheduled to purchase 60 fighter jets with a budget of 8.3 trillion won ($7.7 billion) to replace its aging fleet to defend itself from North Korea.

It plans to pick one of the three fighters by next month.

The other candidate is the Eurofighter produced by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS).