By Jun Ji-hye
Korea and the U.S. have made little progress in the establishment of a defense technology consultative body to help Korea’s troubled fighter jet program.
Officials say that the two sides have yet to exchange their views on how to form the organization since the plan was announced earlier this month.
The fighter jet project, codenamed KF-X, is now undergoing difficulties due to the Americans’ refusal to transfer relevant technologies from their F-35 stealth jet.
“Korea and the U.S. agreed to establish the consultative group to support the KF-X project at a government level, but the plan has yet to take shape,” said Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok during a regular briefing, Thursday.
On Nov. 2, Defense Minister Han Min-koo and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter decided to establish the Defense Technology Strategy and Cooperation Group, co-chaired by Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the American Department of Defense and Department of State, with participation from other relevant agencies.
At the time, Carter said that the U.S. is “fully supportive” of Korea’s KF-X program, aimed at building its own fighter jets by 2025 to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.
The agreement was reached amid growing controversy over the feasibility of the 8.5 trillion won project after the U.S. government refused in April to allow Lockheed Martin, the F-35 manufacturer, to hand over four core technologies, including active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, to Korea for security reasons.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is currently holding negotiations with Lockheed Martin regarding the transfer of another 21 technologies, but uncertainty continues to grow.
Lockheed officials visited DAPA last week for negotiations. For their part, DAPA officials are planning to go to Washington next week to continue the discussion.
The initial purpose of the allies’ defense technology consultative group would apparently be to carry out government-to-government consultations to seek the U.S. government’s approval for technology transfers, while the arms procurement agency and the U.S. defense giant company hold their own.
However, the allies have yet to even determine when the first meeting would take place.
Critics say the body would contribute little to Seoul’s KF-X project contrary to initial expectations.
The transfer of a total of 25 technologies, including the four core ones, was included in the offset deal in return for Korea’s purchase of 40 F-35s, signed in September last year. But the precondition was the U.S government’s approval.
Some lawmakers say if Korea fails to receive the technologies from the U.S., the feasibility of the KF-X project can hardly be guaranteed, calling for a full-fledged audit of the decision-making process to buy 40 F-35s last year.
But the National Assembly Defense Committee is highly likely to drop any motion to conduct such an audit, as most representatives of the ruling Saenuri Party would oppose it, citing conducting an audit at this stage will de facto suspend the program and will only negatively affect the national project.
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