'Military's decision to buy US helicopters could be diplomatic choice'

On the left is President Moon Jae-in and on the right, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden. Military watchers say that the South Korean government's recent decision to purchase 12 maritime operational helicopters from the U.S. aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin could be a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump and the upcoming Biden administration of Korea's intention to buy U.S. arms amid the long-stalled defense cost-sharing talks between the countries. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The Korean military's recent decision to buy 12 maritime operational helicopters from the U.S. aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin is widely seen as a diplomatic choice favorable to Washington, according to military watchers.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced last week that it has selected Lockheed Martin's MH-60R Seahawk helicopters over its competitor Italian giant Lenardo's AW159 Wildcat helicopters, for the Korean military's second batch of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters.

The decision came one and a half years after the DAPA kicked off an open bid for the Republic of Korea Navy's new ASW helicopters in early May last year to adopt a total of 12 new ASW helicopters. Earlier in 2016, the DAPA purchased eight AW159 Wildcat helicopters from Leonardo and deployed them for the Navy the following year.

DAPA had initially planned to sign a direct commercial sales (DCS) deal with Leonardo for the additional 12 European multi-mission helicopters before the mid-November deadline for the second bidding in 2018. But the U.S. government proposed a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal to Seoul for Lockheed Martin's MH-60R, and Seoul opened the bidding again in 2019 and recently decided to choose the American manufacturer's helicopters. DAPA said it would spend about 960 billion won ($865.7 million) for the new FMS deal with Washington.

Military watchers said although both options of purchasing the AW159 Wildcat and MH-60R would have different merits and demerits, DAPA's decision-making procedures seem to be based on political and diplomatic considerations, especially the issue of military alliance between South Korean and the U.S.

"As we can discern from the military's decision-making procedures for the second batch of ASW helicopters, it was definitely a political consideration … In fact, when the U.S. is participating in a bid for the South Korean military's weapons buying project, it is very difficult to choose any other country over the U.S. In terms of the necessity to purchase economical weapons and considering other objective criteria including performance, there could be much more benefit to us when we buy weapons produced by other countries. But the U.S. would object to such a choice, citing the spirit of the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance," said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.

"For large-scale weapons buying projects, in particular, the U.S. puts a lot of pressure on Seoul through multiple channels including diplomatic or military ones. For the case of the South Korean military's second batch of ASW helicopters, U.S. President Trump has openly and repeatedly demanded President Moon Jae-in buy more U.S. weapons."

Military watchers also said that the Korean government might want to send a signal not only to Trump but also to the upcoming U.S. administration under Joe Biden that South Korea has purchased more U.S. weapons when Seoul and Washington have yet to reach an agreement over the long-stalled defense cost-sharing for the stationing of 28,500 United States Forces Korea (USFK) troops.

"As the Special Measures Agreement negotiations are stuck in a prolonged impasse, President Trump has ramped up the pressure and even signaled a potential withdrawal of the USFK. Given that, the decision behind the Military Operational Helicopter Batch-II program could have been a diplomatic agenda to strengthen the beleaguered ROK-U.S. alliance," said Kim Byoung-Joo, an affiliate professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' Division of International Studies.

Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, also said the decision was rather diplomatic, considering that Leonardo's Wildcat would be the "right" choice for the Navy considering the country's industrial structure and other conditions including the costs. According to industry officials, deploying 12 Lockheed Martin's Seahawk helicopters would cost 944.4 billion won, 303.6 billion won more than when deploying 12 Wildcats at a cost of 640.8 billion won.

"The Wildcat helicopter has already passed the standards for the military's Required Operational Capability and the price was not high, rather reasonable. In addition, Leonardo proposed an offset deal under which South Korean small and medium-sized companies would produce components used for Wildcat helicopters," Shin said. "The Seahawk is a good model but so is the Wildcat … Both models have merits and demerits, but considering other economic factors including the country's defense budget, DAPA's choosing the Seahawk seems to be rather political."