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Defense

S. Korea should beef up maritime ISR capability

By Jung Sung-ki South Korea should speed up efforts to bolster its maritime defense posture against emerging irregular warfare tactics by beefing up its naval intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) weapons systems, an American naval expert said Tuesday. William D. Sullivan, a former U.S. vice admiral who served as commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Korea, also called for multinational maritime cooperation to defend against the new concept of war at sea. “The concept of war at sea has evolved continuously throughout history, but perhaps the most dramatic strategic changes have occurred in the past two decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War,” Sullivan said in a naval security forum in Seoul. The two-day forum, titled “The Security Environment of the Korean Peninsula and Direction for Development of the ROK Navy,” ended Tuesday. The former U.S. navy commander said superpowers ― the United States and the Soviet Union ― designed, built and trained their navies to conduct sustained, high-intensity warfare on t

Sep 14, 2010

Seoul reaffirms N. Korea’s torpedo attack in final report

By Jung Sung-ki A multinational team of investigators failed to find traces of explopsives on the propeller of a torpedo collected from the site of the sinking of the Cheonan ship in March, according to a head of the team. This, critics say, leaves lingering questions about the exact cause of the incident that killed 46 sailors. The Joint Civil-Military Investigation Group (JIG), released its final report of the Cheonan investigation both in Korean and English Monday, following its interim report announced May 20. The group included experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden and Canada. The 300-page final report contains records of the incident, the raising of the wreckage, the collecting of evidence and simulations. “The ROK Navy ship Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack while conducting a normal mission in the vicinity of Baengnyeong Island at 09:22 p.m. on March 26, 2010,” the English-version of the report says in its conclusion. “The analysis on the cause of the sinking initially left open every possibility and explored

Sep 13, 2010

Exclusive Korean Air to develop UAV for division operations

By Jung Sung-ki Korean Air, the national flag carrier, has been selected as the preferred bidder to develop a domestic medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) Monday. KAL defeated Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The selection was made during DAPA's defense procurement meeting Sept. 7, an agency official said. About 30 UAVs will be deployed in the Army's division-level units beginning 2014, as part of efforts to boost the country's intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in tandem with the planned transition of wartime operational control from the United States to South Korea in 2015. About 30 billion won ($26 million) will be spent to develop the UAV, said the official. The DAPA and Korean Air's aerospace division are consulting over the final requirements for the division-level UAV, the official said, requesting not to be identified. The company offers its KUS-9 model made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. The aircraft is said to have a boom-mounted tai

Sep 13, 2010

Exclusive US approves sale of stealthy F-15 to South Korea

By Jung Sung-ki U.S. aerospace company Boeing is looking to compete for a major fighter acquisition project in South Korea after receiving Pentagon approval to export the stealth version of its F-15 aircraft, Silent Eagle, according to Boeing and South Korean procurement officials. The F-15SE export approval for South Korea is the first of its kind, as Boeing is offering the aircraft to other current users such as Israel, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Boeing is vying with U.S. Lockheed Martin and the European consortium EADS for Seoul’s third-phase F-X program that requires as many as 60 stealth fighters. The F-X III is to start as early as next year. “Boeing submitted requests for licenses to brief South Korea about the F-15SE’s capability,” a Boeing official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity. “The DSP-5 unclassified license for the export of unclassified items was approved in July, and the DSP-85 classified license for sensitive equipment was subsequently approved in August.” The classified items include the F-15SE’s radar cross-section treatments and e

Sep 12, 2010

S. Korea, US develop N. Korea stabilization operations

By Jung Sung-ki South Korea and the United States have executed “realistic” training exercises to respond to various types of internal instability in North Korea, the top U.S. military general said Thursday. Such drills were held during the latest Ulchi Freedom Guardian computerized simulation exercise from Aug. 16 to 26, said Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Seoul’s Unification Ministry was reported to have participated in the drill for the first time. Sharp’s remarks come amid speculation about the North’s looming father-to-son power succession and possible political instability. The remarks are also construed as meaning that both governments have successfully developed their joint operational plan, codenamed 5029, to cope with any North Korean contingency, including a sudden regime collapse, a mass influx of North Korean refugees and a civil war provoked by a revolt or coup. “We are really trying to make sure that we use realistic exercises and make sure that we are prepared for anything that could happen in Korea,” Sharp said in a media

Sep 9, 2010

Int’l aero forum opens in Gyeongju

By Jung Sung-ki GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province ― Scores of aerospace industry experts at home and abroad gathered in Gyeongju Sept. 7 to hold a forum on the future of the domestic aircraft industry. The Gyeongbuk International Aero Forum 2010 opened at Gyeongju Hilton Hotel. The theme of the two-day forum is “Nurturing Strategy of Aero Parts Industry.” “The forum will stimulate the interchange of the most modern technologies of the next-generation aerospace parts industry, helping to find mutual cooperation based on the ‘aero parts industry strategy,’” Governor Kim Kwan-yong of North Gyeongsang Province said in his welcoming message. “The forum will establish opportunities for sharing political and technical information in the field of aerospace. Plus, the forum might help domestic and foreign industrial circles and academia to respond to the high oil price and dramatic climate change,” the governor said. The forum is co-hosted by the province and Yeongcheon City. It is organized by Gyeongbuk Technopark, the Korea Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences and

Sep 8, 2010

Navy, Air Force generals may rotate as JCS head

By Jung Sung-ki In an effort to increase interoperability between the three military services, the Lee Myung-bak administration is considering rotating top generals from the Army, Navy and Air Force to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), a government source said Monday. The idea was recently suggested by a presidential ad hoc commission on defense affairs to President Lee, the source said. Except for former Air Force Gen. Lee Yang-ho, who served as JCS chairman between 1993 and 1994, the joint military operational body has been headed by the Army general with the logic that an Air Force or Navy commander couldn’t command and control the nation’s Army-dominated armed forces. Criticism has often risen over the Army-dominated military structure, as operational and arms acquisition plans have often been focused on ground forces. Currently, there are about 520,000 Army troops, while the Navy has some 68,000 personnel and the Air Force, 65,000. “There is a consensus among the government and military that such a rotation of the JCS chairmanship would hel

Sep 6, 2010

Typhoon forces delay in S. Korea-US drills

By Jung Sung-ki A South Korean-U.S. anti-submarine exercise in the western waters of the Korean Peninsula has been postponed due to an approaching typhoon, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced Saturday. The five-day drill, which was due to start Sunday, will be the second in a series of joint exercises planned and designed to send a clear message of deterrence to North Korea after it was blamed for the sinking of South Korea’s Cheonan ship in March. The JCS said in a statement that the maneuvers had been put off as Typhoon Malou was tearing through southern Japan on Sept. 4 and is expected to hit South Korea’s western coast early this week. According to the weather forecast Sunday, however, the typhoon would hit the southern part of the peninsula and not affect the western part. New dates for the exercise will be announced later, the JCS said. The anti-submarine drill, denounced by North Korea as a preparation for war, is to be the latest show of force since Seoul and Washington accused Pyongyang in May of sending a submarine to torpedo the warship, killing

Sep 5, 2010

American twin veterans recall Korean War

By Jung Sung-ki Fifty-nine years ago, 21-year-old American twins were called to serve as soldiers in Korea, which was in the middle of a fratricidal war between the U.S.-backed democratic South and the North supported by communist China. What the twins witnessed when they first arrived were devastated buildings and homeless people. They were engaged in fierce battles near the 38th parallel to help South Korean troops fight against the North Korean and Chinese forces. The 80-year-old twins _ Roy Franklin and Ray Wesley Brinkley _ revisited South Korea last week on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. What they saw in Seoul this time was very “different” from that in the war. They were proud of South Korea having been transformed into a global economy and a full democracy. “When I came (to Korea) the first time, I didn’t know what I expected. We came at night time and didn’t know anything (about Korea),” Ray Wesley said in an interview with The Korea Times at the Lotte Hotel in Jamsil, southern Seoul. “What we knew was it was

Sep 5, 2010

Exclusive Seoul to delay fighter jet program

Budget constraints, post-Cheonan priority readjustment blamed By Jung Sung-ki A major fighter jet acquisition program originally scheduled for 2011 is likely to be pushed back by a year due to budget constraints and a readjustment of priorities in the wake of the sinking of the frigate Cheonan on March 26, according to defense officials Wednesday. Air Force officials and defense experts are worried that the country’s fighter modernization efforts could be compromised despite growing calls here to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4E and F-5E/F aircraft. These planes have been involved in several fatal crashes in recent years. The third phase F-X fighter acquisition competition for 40 to 60 advanced stealth aircraft was to have started next year with a final contract in 2012, following the first two stages of obtaining 60 F-15K aircraft built by U.S. aerospace giant Boeing. If delayed, a contract could be sealed as early as 2013 and the delivery of aircraft would start after 2016. According to a senior official at the Defense Acquisition Program Administr

Sep 1, 2010
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