Korea seeks to buy 4 air tankers in 2014

By Lee Tae-hoon

Military officials said Tuesday that Korea plans to push forward the long-delayed plan to purchase four aerial refueling aircraft to boost the country’s air defense capabilities.

The plan has been shelved since 1994 due to budget constraints and shifts in priorities.

“The military is seeking to finalize the decision next year and include the procurement project in fiscal 2013 budget requests,” Son Hyeong-yeong, spokesman of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said.

He said, if the plan goes without a hitch, the military will likely launch a bid in early 2013, select the winner in the following October and seal a deal in early 2014.

The list of potential candidates for the bid includes Boeing’s KC-767 and EADS’s A330 MRTT.

Another senior DAPA official said that the military expects to deploy the first of four refueling tankers at the earliest in 2017, more than a year after the transfer of wartime operational control from the United States.

Seoul is scheduled to retake wartime control from Washington in December 2015.

“It is estimated that it would take 36 months or slightly more to receive an in-flight tanker from the time of placing an order,” he said.

The official added that the military may decide to purchase used air refueling tankers to ease the financial burden and prevent further delays in the stalled acquisition plan.

The cost of a new tanker is estimated to be above $200 million, whereas a secondhand one can be purchased at $100 million or less.

Some 30 countries, including Peru, Malaysia and Algeria, operate refueling tankers because in-flight refueling can significantly increase fighter jets' range. Japan operates four KC-767J tankers from Boeing.

Some experts argue one tanker can boost combat capability equivalent to more than 20 fighters. In-flight refueling planes allow fighters to take off with less fuel, more weapons and remain airborne longer.

Critics say the lack of its own in-flight refueling planes makes it difficult for the Korean Air Force to conduct aerial refueling exercises.

They say if a war breaks out, Korean fighter jets will not be able to take advantage of the U.S. Air Force’s provision of its air refueling tankers due to lack of training. The U.S. operates more than 500 in-flight tankers.

Korea’s Air Force conducted an aerial refueling exercise for the first time in September this year with the assistance from the U.S. military.