`Indonesia factor' bars KF-X tech transfer

By Jun Ji-hye

The United States appears reluctant to share technologies for Korea’s indigenous fighter jet development project due to the “Indonesia factor,” analysts said Wednesday.

Indonesia maintains close defense ties with Russia and its partnership with Korea is worrying the U.S. government, they said.

Korea plans to develop its own jets in close cooperation with Indonesia, the No. 1 importer of Russian weapons. But Washington, mindful of Indonesia’s relations with Russia, is concerned about possible leakage of core technologies in high-tech fighter jets, they said. They also said Indonesia’s participation may become an obstacle to the 8.5 trillion won KF-X project, aimed at developing indigenous fighter jets by 2025 to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.

On Sunday, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the project’s preferred bidder, signed tentative deals with the Indonesian government and state-run defense company PT Dirgantara Indonesia. Under the deals, Indonesia will pay 20 percent of the costs and participate in the design process and component production, as well as acquiring one prototype and technology data afterward.

“The United States shares little defense technology with Indonesia,” said Brad Perrett, Asia-Pacific bureau chief of Aviation Week, the U.S. weekly magazine specializing in defense and space issues.

“So, Indonesia’s participation in the KF-X program increases Korea’s challenge in acquiring U.S. technology, which will in any case not be freely available.”

Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor of FlightGlobal, an aviation and aerospace industry website, also said the U.S. government has never explicitly stated its view on Indonesia’s involvement with the KF-X as an issue, but several people in the U.S. and Korea have said it could be problematic.

“It is understood, for example, that the U.S. limited some capabilities in the T-50 that was sold to Indonesia,” he said. “For something like the KF-X, this would also likely apply.”

KAI, the nation’s sole aircraft maker, exported 16 T-50 supersonic trainer jets, developed in 2001 with technical help from U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, to Indonesia in 2011.

The U.S. imposed an arms export ban on Indonesia for its invasion of East Timor that began in 1975 and ended in 1999 following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination.

Washington has yet to remove the ban completely, and this led Indonesia to import Russian weapons worth about $884 billion over the past decade.

A global defense market yearbook produced on Nov. 19 by the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality stated: “Indonesia has imported weapons mainly from the Netherlands and Russia under the influence of the U.S. export ban. For the past five years, Indonesia has been the No. 1 importer of Russian weapons.”

The KF-X project faced a serious setback in April after the U.S. government refused to allow Lockheed Martin to hand over to Korea four core technologies related to the F-35 stealth fighter, including the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, for security reasons.

Negotiations regarding the transfer of another 21 technologies also are being delayed, raising fresh concern that Washington might again refuse to approve the export of some of them.

Critics argue that if Korea fails to receive the technologies from the U.S., the feasibility of the KF-X project can hardly be guaranteed.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye