Korea's fighter jet program hits turbulence
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Washington rejects transfer of core F-35 technologies
By Jun Ji-hye
The U.S. government refused to allow Lockheed Martin to transfer four core technologies on F-35 stealth fighters to Korea, posing a threat to the nation's project to develop its own fighter jets.
“The U.S. government rejected transferring the technologies for security reasons,” an official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said Tuesday.
The four technologies are the multifunction, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, infrared search and track (IRST), electronic optics targeting pod (EOTGP) and RF jammer.
The failure to receive these is feared to hamper Seoul’s project to develop its own warplanes, according to Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD).
During a National Assembly audit session, Rep. Ahn argued that Lockheed promised to hand over a total of 25 technologies related to the stealth fighter, including the four, to Korea when it signed the 7.3 trillion won deal in September last year to provide 40 F-35 as next-generation fighters (F-X).
Rep. Ahn, who belongs to the National Assembly Defense Committee said, “Under the offset deal, Lockheed Martin was supposed to seek approval from the U.S. government by May to export the technologies.”
He said Washington’s rejection of the transfer would hinder the nation’s 8.5 trillion won project to develop indigenous fighter jets scheduled to be put into service beginning 2025.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has been pushing for the fighter development project, codenamed the KF-X, on the premise that the Korean company can take advantage of technology transfers from Lockheed.
Rep. Moon Jae-in, chairman of the NPAD, also argued: “One of the prime reasons for choosing the Lockheed Martin F-35 as the nation’s next-generation fighters was the transfer of the key technologies. The company won the deal by presenting tempting conditions, and then the U.S. changed its word.”
In response, Air Force Chief of Staff Jeong Kyeong-doo told the audit session that there would be no problem in carrying out the KF-X project.
“At the time of signing the contract to buy the F-35s, there was no problem involving the transfer,” he said.
DAPA said Korea will push cooperation with other foreign companies in developing AESA radar and IRST technologies, and will autonomously develop EOTGP and RF jammers.
A military official explained on condition of anonymity that at the time of signing the F-X contract, Korea was aware that the U.S. strictly bans the transfer of the four technologies, but DAPA asked Lockheed to additionally include them into the transfer list with the other 21 items. Korea made the additional request, having the strong Seoul-Washington alliance in mind, he said.
“Exclusion of the four cannot be seen as a breach of contract as the U.S. government’s approval was cited as a precondition,” he said.
Last Thursday, DAPA head Chang Myoung-jin told lawmakers that the U.S. government vowed to approve the export of the remaining 21 technologies.
But some defense observers remained skeptical about the promise, citing previous cases in which U.S. companies have been reluctant in technology transfers.
“It has been the convention that the U.S. is reluctant to transfer technologies after selling weapons,” an analyst said.