Seoul to delay procurement of new submarines, tanker planes

SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense ministry has decided to modify
its long-term arms procurement plan, delaying the deployment of next-generation
submarines and tanker planes by one to two years, government officials said
Sunday.
The "Defense Reform 2020" initiative finalized by the government of former
president Roh Moo-hyun in 2005 called for the deployment of a total of nine
3,000-ton-class submarines, starting in 2018.
The next-generation submarines to be independently designed and built by South
Korean shipbuilders in a project codenamed "KSS-III" are expected to cost about
one trillion won (US$800 million) per unit. The basic design work for the KSS-III
project was begun in 2007, while a budget of 25 billion won was earmarked for it
this year.
But the government of President Lee Myung-bak has decided to delay the KSS-III
project by two years, with the deployment of the first next-generation submarine
deferred to 2020, said a government source, adding the second and third new
submarines will be deployed in the following two years.
The Navy will separately push to build nine 1,800-ton submarines by 2018 under a
long-term plan to establish a submarine command.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry has also decided to delay the introduction of a
tanker plane by one year to 2014.
"The U.S. air force is scheduled to change its main tanker plane model in the
first half of next year. Considering the nature of a military interoperability
between the two nations, we'll choose our tanker plane on the basis of the new
U.S. model," said another government source.
The ministry will also delay its overseas procurement of a high altitude unmanned
air vehicle, known as UAV, by four years to 2015, due to the need to "collect
more overseas data and conduct further related researches," the source said.
(END)