R.O.Korea Navy News
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South Korea is seriously considering having Russia pay back its
debts to Seoul with submarines, a government source said
yesterday.
The source said top-level officials from Chong Wa Dae, the
presidential offices and related ministries met last month to
study the possibility and tentatively agreed to receive two
Russian subs as early as this year.
Behind the government's consideration is Russia's economic crisis
which virtually makes it impossible for Russia to repay the debt
immediately and President Kim Dae-jung's scheduled visit to
Moscow in May.
Russia is said to have made specific proposals, offering ``K''
sub which is over 2,500 tons and ``Amur'' which is below 1,900
tons.
But observers say the decision may entail heated debate between
ministries and opposition from the defense industry.
The source said South Korea may receive two submarines first and
ask Russia to transfer technology for additional purchases.
A Defense Ministry official admitted that Moscow had proposed
that South Korea buy Russian arms including missiles, jet
fighters and submarines. ``A review is under way on integrated
logistics support on these equipment, but there has been no final
decision,'' he said.
To pay back its debts to Seoul, Russia wants to build submarines for South Korea's new sub
program, and it has also offered fighters and missiles as part of the repayment, an
informed government source said yesterday.
Moscow has suggested that the government select either 2,500-ton Kilo-class or 1,900-ton
Amur-class submarines for Korea's new program codenamed SSU, said the source who demanded
anonymity. Under Russia's suggestion, two submarines built in Russia would be delivered to
South Korea before a Korean contractor starts to build several others with Russian
technology.
Russian officials have also suggested that South Korea pay 50 to 70 percent of the
submarine's cost in cash with the remaining amount to be credited to repayment of its
debts, the source said.
He added Adm. Vladimir I. Kuroyedov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Federal Navy who
visited South Korea early this month, delivered Moscow's willingness to participate in the
SSU program to Korean military leaders.
Russia is strongly hoping to pay more than $1.4 billion of its debts with hi-tech weapons.
It has sent a list of military hardware it wants to sell to South Korea, including fighter
jets and the S-300 air defense system.
Government officials recently discussed the suggestion, and South Korea and Russia will
further discuss the matter in Seoul this week, when Russian finance-related officials
visit Seoul, and also in April at the South Korea-Russia bilateral economic committee
meeting slated for Moscow.
Russian weapons have so far been excluded from major weapons programs here, apparently due
to logistics problems. The source, however, said that "it seems to me that there's a
possibility the government will allow Russia to compete with other foreign submarine
builders for the SSU program."
The Defense Ministry announced in February that the SSU program will start in October this
year, by which time the main contractors will have been selected. Daewoo, teamed up with
Germany's HDW, and Hyundai, joined by France's DSN, and several other European companies
are expected to participate in the bidding. The program was shelved in late 1997, as
Hyundai sued the Defense Ministry for unfair bidding. Daewoo is currently building the
last batch of nine, 1200-ton 209-class submarines with German technology. The Navy wants
larger, more advanced submarines.
In 1991, Russia inherited $1.47 billion in debts to South Korea from the former Soviet
Union. The debt once grew to $1.89 billion due to overdue payments and accumulated
interest. Russia has so far paid back $450 million in weapons and raw material. Officials
from the two countries will discuss how to pay back the remaining $1.44 billion.
Since 1995, Russia has shipped weapons worth $210 million and helicopters and raw material
worth $240 million to South Korea to repay some of its debts, which were due in 1993.
South Korea has thus far received T-80U main battle tanks, BMP-2 armored infantry
vehicles, "Metis" antitank missiles and "Igla" portable air-defense missiles.
The South Korean Navy will participate in a five-nation, three-week maritime maneuver
exercise codenamed Tandem Trust for the first time at seas off Guam from next week, the
Defense Ministry said yesterday.
Naval forces from the 7th U.S. Fleet, Canada, Australia, and Singapore will participate in
the biennial exercise, which started in 1991.
U.S. and Australian Air Force and Army forces, the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, and
more than 20 warships and 80 aircraft will also join the drill sponsored by the 7th U.S.
Fleet. South Korea will dispatch a frigate, a submarine and a P-3C anti-submarine
aircraft.
The drill is held every year ending in an odd number in the western Pacific, while similar
RIMPAC exercises, led by the 3rd U.S. Fleet, are held in waters off Hawaii in years ending
in even numbers.
The Navy will have three Aegis-class destroyers within 10 years under a medium-term
defense procurement project, the Defense Ministry said yesterday.
Each of the 7,000-ton destroyers will cost about 1 trillion won. Design of the
state-of-the-art warship will start in the year 2001 and the first will be launched in
2009 or 2010, a ministry spokesman said. Presently the U.S. and Japanese navies are the
only ones to have Aegis-class destroyers, which, equipped with high-tech electronic
devices and weapons, is capable of attacking multiple targets.
The Defense Ministry will invest more than 26.7 trillion won from 2000 to 2004 for an
ambitious defense improvement program. The program includes the destroyer-building project
code-named KDX-III, next-generation fighter program, purchases of attack helicopters,
surface-to-air missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The 26.7 trillion won to be poured into the weapons procurement program is part of the
81.5 trillion won defense expenditure plan to be implemented over the next five years.
The defense budget for 2000 will be 14.5 trillion won, compared with 13.7 trillion won
this year.
But the program to acquire early warning aircraft, often called AWACS, has been delayed
from 2001 to 2004, the ministry said.
Concerning the program for the Army attack helicopters, the Defense Ministry said it will
cost more than 2.1 trillion won to acquire scores of anti-tank attack helicopters such as
Apache or Tiger. The program will start in 2002 and complete in 2009. At present, five to
six countries are producing attack helicopters similar with U.S.-made Apache.
The Korean Army now has a score of less advanced Cobra attack helicopters, and the program
will upgrade the Army's anti-tank attack capability.
As for the next-generation fighter program, a ministry official said selection of the
fighter will be complete by the year 2001, adding the ministry eyes procurement of about
60 new fighter jets. Among the candidates are Rafale of France, Eurofighter being produced
by a European consortium, F-15 of the United States and Russia's Sukhoi-35.
Those fighters participated in the Seoul Air Show Oct. 26 to Nov. 1 last year and competed
fiercely to draw attention of Korean news media, government officials and industrial
leaders.
The cost of the program varies, but is expected to be somewhere between 3 trillion won and
6 trillion won, the ministry said. By early next year when the Korea Fighter Program
finishes, the Air Force will acquire 120 F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters. Twelve of the
F-16 were manufactured by U.S. Lockheed Martin, and the remaining were assembled or
produced by Samsung of Korea.
Another program, code-named SAM-X, is related to the purchase either of U.S.-made Patriot
missiles and Russia's S-300 air defense system. The program, worth 2 trillion won, was
delayed in 1997 amid a fierce competition between the United States and Russia which
wanted to sell their own systems.
At that time, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen openly requested South Korea purchase
Patriot system, while Russian officials charged the United States. for its "bullying
tactic." A ministry official said selection of the missile system will likely be made next
year.
Under another program, an undisclosed number of unmanned surveillance aircraft worth 100
billion won will be purchased in 2001-2002. South Korean Army already has Israeli-made
unmanned surveillance vehicle.
A program to build new submarines, code-named SSU, will start in October this year, when
the main contractors will be selected. Now Daewoo, teamed with Germany's HDW, and Hyundai,
teamed with French DSN, are expected to participate in the bidding. The program was
shelved in late 1997, as Hyundai sued the Defense Ministry for unfair bidding.
British Aerospace's newly formed Defence Systems Group has secured a key order
from the Korean navy. The Group's Land & Sea Systems business will develop and
produce a combat management system, for three Batch 2 KDX destroyers in a ?6
million deal.
Combat management systems coordinate, manage and link all combat system
equipments, presenting the overall tactical picture to the command team so that
decisions can be made and actions taken - sometimes with only seconds available
to respond.
The order is the second from the Koreans and follows the initial prime contract,
which was completed in May last year. This covered the supply and integration of
the SSCS combat management system, fire control and associated radars and combat
system databus.
The Batch 2 KDX is a larger ship, 5,000 tons, with a longer-range anti-air
missile system, enhanced anti-submarine warfare and all-round self-defence
capabilities, requiring an expanded combat management system.
The new contract extends SSCS ability to manage more than 40 leading world
market combat system equipments backed up by a large suite of in-service
applications software including advanced long-range anti-air warfare
capabilities.
The Batch 2 KDX combat system features the US-supplied Standard Missile 2/Mk41
launched missile system, the STIR tracker radars are upgraded from 1.8 to 2.4
dishes. The SM2 missile fire control system is the proven WDS 14 from Tracor.
Other additions include towed array and acoustic countermeasures together with a
Korean datalink system.
The new combat management system contract covers considerable additional
interfacing and functional software, including enhancement to the Batch 1 Threat
Evaluation and Weapon Assignment package, a further two consoles and systems
integration work to link SSCS with the SM2/Mk41/WDS 14 anti-air warfare
combination and the other new combat system equipments. The in-service date is
2003.
Roger Barnes, managing director Sea Systems in Land & Sea Systems, said: "This
significant follow-on order continues our work in Korea and places us in a
strong position for future combat system orders both in the UK and overseas. I
have been impressed with what has been achieved so far and am grateful for the
strong support from the British Government and Royal Navy."
Rear Admiral John Tolhurst, military deputy to the head of the UK Government's
Defence Export Services Organisation, said: "British Aerospace well deserves
this important contract for the KDX Batch 2 destroyer. It will continue the
close relationship which the UK enjoys with the Republic of Korea and with its
rapidly expanding navy."
The Defense Ministry said yesterday that all necessary steps
are being taken to ensure that no disruptions in the
operation of its computer and computer-related equipment will
occur due to the ``millennium bug.''
In a press briefing, a ministry spokesman said, ``All
measures have been taken to fail-safe 97 percent of our
computer-operated weapons and support systems, while
significant progress has been made in efforts to deal with
military communication and other computer-utilized systems.''
The spokesman said that out of 677 weapons and support
systems, 212 systems with in-built computer chips had been
checked and 194 were found to have no potential Year 2000
problems. Written assurances have also been received from
their manufacturers, he said.
Y2K is expected to wreak havoc on old computers designed to
read the date using only the last two digits of the year.
These computers are unable to distinguish the year 2000 from
1900 and may shut down at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999 when
their dating mechanism shifts to 00.
Missiles, air defense systems, fire control electronics
equipment or command & control systems, which have the
potential to cause widespread destruction should the systems
malfunction, are not included in the list of the 15
``potentially problematic'' systems, he said. ``They are
support systems related to maintenance, test or mockup
training equipment,'' he said.
The ministry has decided to delay the deployment of three
types of equipment, all global positioning systems, until
after 2000 due to Y2K fears.
The spokesman said that one GSP system, an MX-1105 made by
U.S. Magnanox, of which 19 are in use on submarines,
destroyers and frigates, is being checked for potential Y2K
problems and is up for changes.
The ministry said that no potential problems have been found
in missiles, such as anti-aircraft Nikes, Hawks and Pegasus
and anti-ship Harpoons, or in Air Force radar and Navy fire
control systems.
The ministry said that all measures will be completed by June
of this year. ``In May, we will designate a Y2K test day to
test-run the systems, and find and address all Y2K
problems,'' a spokesman said.
After a one-month intensive undersea search, the ROK Navy
yesterday located a North Korean spy boat that launched a
failed infiltration attempt via the South Coast on Dec. 18
before being sunk in a subsequent exchange of fire in open
seas 100 km south of Koje Island, Kyongsang-namdo.
In a press briefing, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Oh Chol-sik told
defense correspondents, ``A recovery operation for the sunken
communist semi-submersible craft is underway, an operation
involving ROK military deep sea divers and an 11-ton crane on
board Navy salvage vessel Chonghaejin.''
A videotape recorded by an unmanned Navy mine disposal
vehicle (MDV) revealed the location of the 10-meter long,
5-ton craft, which according to military experts is the
latest in a series of North Korean infiltration vessels. The
spy boat currently rests on the sandy seabed at a depth of
150 meters, its upper and rear sections severely damaged,
probably as a result of the barrage of cannon fire to which
it was subjected in its ill-fated battle with ROK Navy
gunships.
There were no signs of the remains of the boat's crewmen
visible on the tape. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) estimate
that the boat could have been carrying up to eight people
when it was sunk. To date, the Navy has accounted for only
one of the spy ship's crewmen, having recovered the body of a
North Korean with a hand grenade in his pocket.
``We expect it will take about 10 days to raise the craft,
weather permitting,'' Cmdr. Oh said, adding that the
operation could stretch anywhere from one to two months,
considering high seas and the mercurial changes of weather
typical of the area in January and February.
The Navy had been pressed to locate the boat after reporting
that it had been sunk but providing little evidence to
support its claim of a ``major operational success.'' Before
the discovery of the craft, only the body of the North Korean
and a few items believed to have been aboard the sunken craft
had been recovered.
A fleet of four ships _ a 325-ton vessel operated by the
state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD) equipped with
side-scan sonar, two 450-ton minesweepers with sonar and MDV
and a 3,200-ton sub salvage ship with a deep submergence
rescue vehicle (DSRV), had been combing the area where the
spy boat went down for a period of weeks. The craft was
finally located about 450 meters away from the point where
the Navy initially believed it was sunk. The Navy was at one
time so desperate to recover the boat that it sought to bring
in a U.S. Navy undersea recovery expert, who who asked for
450 million won for a 21-day search. Judging his fee to be
too high, the Navy continued the search on its own.
On Jan. 18, the ADD ship located an underwater object with
its sonar and after an MDV was brought in to videotape it,
the Navy concluded in a review and analysis session that its
search was over.
Cmdr. Oh said that the recovery operation will be undertaken
in three stages.
The first stage is to position a crane ship directly above
the sunken boat.
In the second stage, about 46 deep-sea divers will take turns
attaching tethers to the boat before it is brought up by
crane, Cmdr. Oh said.
The trickiest part of the difficult operation is the work to
be done by the divers who will operate 150 meters below the
surface.
According to diving experts, a ``saturation diving'' method
will be used due to the depth of the waters where the divers
will have to work.
The divers will have to spend six days in a pressure chamber
to accustom them to the enormous pressure of the depths where
they will work. Using a personnel transfer capsule, the
divers will make their way to the worksite, at which time
they will disembark and work for a maximum of one hour per
outing, the experts said.
A U.S. military rescue team will participate in an ongoing
operation to locate and recover a North Korean spy boat that
was sunk by the ROK Navy in an exchange of fire in high seas
off the South Coast last month.
Col. Hwang Dong-kyu, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff
(JCS), yesterday told defense correspondents, ``A U.S. team,
led by Lt. Cmdr. Skorger Boe from the U.S. 7th Fleet, will
visit Korea tomorrow to help the ROK Navy recover the 10-ton
spy boat that sank to the bottom in an exchange of fire Dec.
18 after trying unsuccessfully to infiltrate coasts near
Yosu, Cholla-namdo.''
Col. Hwang said Lt. Cmdr Boe will take a tour of the site
and, depending on the results of his inspection, will ask for
the equipment needed to locate the semi-submersible. The U.S.
officer previously participated in a successful salvage
operation to recover a U.S. F-16 fighter that crashed in the
East Sea.
Over the past three weeks, the ROK Navy has been conducting a
salvage operation to retrieve the sunken spy boat using a
frigate, a mine sweeper and a salvage boat, but has so far
failed to locate the communist boat.
The ROK JCS said that in a close undersea examination of the
one-mile square area within which the the boat was sunk,
about 30 suspicious objects were found, but that they all
turned out to be rocks and parts of the sea bottom.
In a perimeter search outside the 1-mile radius area, an
additional 30 plus ``targets'' were found. Those objects are
currently being examined, the JCS spokesman said.
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[Mar.15,1999]Seoul May Buy Russian Subs as Loan Repayment