First Introduction of American-Made Weapons... Next Project Is [Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club]

Defense Acquisition Program Administration Launches 3 Trillion Won Second Phase of Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft Project
L3 Harris Model from United States Selected as Final Choice

With the inauguration of the Lee Jaemyung administration, the introduction of the first American-made weapon is fueling expectations that the presidential helicopter acquisition project will also proceed swiftly. The South Korean government has a precedent of acquiring American-made weapons during the first Trump administration, which suggests that the adoption of U.S. weapons may become more advantageous compared to European alternatives.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration on October 1, the model from U.S. company L3 Harris was selected the previous day for the second phase of the Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft project, which involves a budget of approximately 3 trillion won.

The second phase of the Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft project aims to introduce a successor to the Air Force’s existing “Peace Eye” early warning and control aircraft. The plan is to procure four units by 2032, with a total budget of 3.0975 trillion won. The companies that participated in the bidding were L3 Harris from the United States and Saab from Sweden. The L3 Harris early warning aircraft is based on the Canadian Bombardier Global 6500 business jet, equipped with an Israeli-made radar. There is no actual aircraft in existence yet. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration explained that although there is little difference in performance between the two models, the L3 Harris aircraft received higher scores from the Defense Project Promotion Committee in terms of operational suitability, contribution to the domestic defense industry, and operation and maintenance costs.

This could accelerate the adoption of American-made weapons in the future. The South Korean government already has a precedent of acquiring U.S. weapons during the first Trump administration. In November 2017, during the Korea-U.S. summit held when President Trump visited South Korea, the issue of increasing defense cost-sharing was raised. At the same time, the U.S. pushed for the purchase of American-made weapons, which led to a rapid acceleration of arms procurement projects. Major acquisitions included the JSTARS ground surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, F-35A fighter jets, Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.

President Trump also remarked during the Korea-U.S. summit with President Lee Jaemyung in August that “Korea is a major purchaser of U.S. military equipment” and that he “expects Korea to purchase a significant amount of America’s excellent military equipment.” The government is reportedly reviewing a list of American-made weapons worth 25 billion dollars (approximately 34 trillion won) to be purchased by 2030, as part of efforts to strengthen national defense and bolster the security package with the United States. This list is expected to include the additional procurement of 20 F-35A units (about 4.5 trillion won), upgrades to the F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and the introduction of long-range surface-to-air guided missiles.

Given these factors, there are expectations that large-scale weapons acquisition projects, which have been sluggish, will proceed successively. From 2022 to 2024, purchases of American-made weapons reached about 27 trillion won. If some acquisition projects involving American-made weapons are reconsidered, the total amount could increase further.

The most prominent project currently under discussion is the acquisition of a new presidential helicopter. This could give an advantage to American defense companies. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration recently launched the “Command Helicopter-II Project” to acquire four presidential helicopters, a project valued at 870 billion won. This project aims to replace the current presidential helicopters, which have been in service for 18 years, with new models. The four candidate models are the H225M from Airbus (France), the AW101 from Leonardo (Italy), the S-92A+ from Sikorsky (United States), and the Bell 525 from Bell (United States), reflecting competition between European and American manufacturers. The Sikorsky S-92 is the same model as the VH-92 currently used as the presidential helicopter. The U.S. presidential helicopter, known as “Marine One,” also uses the S-92 model.

A military official stated, “Following the tariff negotiations, the proportion of American-made weapons in our purchases may increase, and it is also necessary to consider ways to recover costs by winning contracts for MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) projects.”