SEOUL — The selection of a foreign contractor to supply the South Korean Air Force with four aerial refueling tankers is just around the corner.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said April 14 that it started price bidding for the 1.48 trillion won (US $1.36 billion) program. Competitors are Boeing, Airbus Defence and Space, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Boeing offers the KC-46 Pegasus, while Airbus pitches the A300-based multirole tanker transport. Israel is proposing the B-767-300ER aircraft.
"The evaluation will go through the end of May before selecting a final contract in June," a DAPA spokesman said, adding that two tankers are to be put into service in 2018 and the remainder the following year.
Price may be the most important factor, Among the evaluation items, price is likely to sway the results of the contest most, according to observers.
"Price will account only 20 percent of the evaluation, but it could be a key criteria for selecting a winner amid budget pressure," said Kim Dae-young, a researching member of the Korea Defense & Security Forum, a Seoul-based defense think-tank.
"The recent decline in the euro against the greenback would be definitely good for Airbus and weigh on Boeing," he added.
Still, the KC-46 has the leverage of the Korean Air Force's interoperability with the US Air Force.
Since Boeing contracted to supply 179 KC-46 tankers to made a contract with the US Air Force to supply 179 KC-46 tankers by 2027, Korea would have to consider the issue of interoperability with its staunchest ally, according to military sources.
"With the KC-46, Korea will acquire a force-multiplier and the ability to operate seamlessly with the US Air Force during combat and humanitarian relief operations," said Eric John, president of Boeing Korea.
IAI is the underdog in the race, although its offering of a refurbished B767-300ER plane is considered cost-effective and the company is pledging to transfer more technology than the other competitors. Still, South Korea does not favor a refurbished model. model.IAI also pledges to transfer more refueling tanker technology than other competitors.
South Korea has long sought to acquire tanker capability to augment its air defense against potential threats posed by China and Japan as well as North Korea. China operates 18 refueling tankers, and Japan has four. refueling aircraft.
"The fighter fleet of F-15Ks and KF-16s are able to fly missions near the eastern most islets of Dokdo as a legacy of its imperial past, only for 30 minutes," an Air Force spokesman said. "With midair refueling, the operational range and flight hours will be extended, to a greater extent, along with an increase in strike distance."
Helicopter Procurement
After years of debate on the feasibility of a locally developed attack helicopter, South Korea has decided to build a light-armed helicopter based on a European platform.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the country's sole aircraft maker, was awarded a deal to develop a home-built, 10,000-pound helicopter to be used for both civilian and military purposes by 2022.
Under the deal, valued at 1.6 trillion won, ($1.4 billion), KAI will develop a light civil helicopter (LCH) for maritime surveillance and transport purposes by 2020 and subsequently modify it into a light-armed helicopter (LAH) to replace the aging fleet of 500MD and AH-1S helicopters.
Airbus Helicopters, formerly known as Eurocopter and which that worked with KAI for the Surion troop-carrying helicopter, was again chosen as for the partner on the of LCH-LAH project. AgustaWestland had been shortlisted for the Korean helicopter plan but failed to narrow the gap over development costs, according to sources.
Airbus Helicopters is to provide the H155, formerly the EC155, to develop the LCH and LAH.
KAI aims to sell about 1,000 aircraft, of which at least 300 could be sold overseas.
The Skepticism remains high, however, that the H155 is such an old platform, however, and there is skepticism it could be used to develop a new-generation indigenous aircraft to compete with existing American and European helicopters. The H155 is a late-1990s rotorcraft based on the AS365 Dauphin of the 1970s.
"The H155 is an aircraft being phased out," said Lee Il-woo, a military specialist of the Korea Defense Network, a Seoul-based defense civic group. "I don't believe an LCH based on the old platform could have any competitive edge in the [global] red ocean market of commercial helicopters."
On top of the LCH-LAH, the DAPA plans to acquire about 40 helicopters for flight training for the Army and Navy.
The TH-X program, valued at about 170 billion won, ($157 million), is designed to procure new training helicopters to replace the Army's 500MDs and the Navy's Aloouette IIIs that have been operated over four decades.
A number of foreign helo makers are prepared to compete. for the contract. Among the candidate models are Boeing's H-6; Bell's 206B; AgustaWestland's AW119; and Airbus Helicopters' EC120.
Missile Defense
Whether or not to adopt the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on Korean soil is a hot-button issue, as Seoul has been under political pressure from Washington, Beijing and Russia.
There has been broad consensus that the South Korean military should deploy establish a high-altitude missile defense network to better protect the country from the growing North Korean missile and nuclear threats.
"The THAAD deployment is a matter of how to protect the country from North Korean attack, which is equal to a matter of national survival," Rep. Yoo Seung-min, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, said.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the US Forces Korea, is also supports ive of the deployment of the advanced missile defense system.
The deployment of a THAAD battery "would give us a high-tier defense and so therefore rather we would have a layered defense and those systems would enhance the capability of our present Patriot systems that are on the peninsula today," he told said during a US House Armed Services Committee hearing April 15.
But the effectiveness of the THAAD, with an altitude range of up to 150 kilometers, has been questioned because the close proximity distance between the South and North could limit the value of the may not allow is too close to work high-altitude interceptor operating against to operate against North Korea's low-flying, short- and intermediate-range missiles.
That's why the South Korean military has focused put focus on building its own low-tier missile defense system, dubbed KAMD, utilizing the PAC-2 interceptors and Aegis ship-based SM-2 ship-to-air missiles.
The Ministry of National Defense says it doesn't have a plan to purchase the THAAD at the moment.
"The [THAAD] system would do good to better defend the country from North Korean missiles, but we will make a judgment by putting a national interest as our top priority," MND spokesman Kim Min-seok said. , apparently referring to political pressure theas neighboring power's political pressure.
China has long been concerned that a Seoul's potential THAAD deployment by Seoul would threaten its security posture.
Beijing claims the X-band radar accompanying THAAD will improve the US ability to intercept Chinese missiles and even threaten the reliability of China's nuclear second-strike capability.
Email: jsungki@defensenews.com
Jeff Jeong was the South Korea correspondent for Defense News.
