ROK adjusts F-15K buy

From Defence Aerospace

Seoul to Buy 20 More F-15Ks

(Source: Korean Overseas Information Service; dated May 19, 2006)

The Air Force will purchase 20 more F-15K multi-role aircraft beginning in 2009, following the scheduled introduction of 40 F-15s by 2008, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday (May 18).

The $2 billion plan was approved during a meeting on Wednesday as part of the ministry's mid-term arms acquisition project between 2007 and 2011, ministry officials said.

Final endorsement of the plan is to be made by President Roh Moo-hyun, they said.

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From DefenseNews

S. Korea Cuts Back on U.S. F-15s: Report

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, SEOUL

South Korea will cut back its purchase of U.S.-made F-15 fighters over the next several years from 80 planes to 60 due to budget constraints, news reports said May 18.

Seoul has placed a firm order for 40 F-15Ks from Boeing for delivery by 2008 for $3.7 billion, and a first batch of four is already in service here.

But a plan to buy an additional 40 planes beginning in 2009 has been revised and the defense ministry can only afford to pay for 20, Yonhap news agency said.

”Because of the lack of budget, we had no choice but to scale back the project,” Yonhap quoted an unnamed defense ministry official as saying.

Chosun Ilbo, the largest circulation daily, said President Roh Moo-Hyun would be asked to review the curtailed purchase plan.

A defense ministry spokesman told AFP he could neither confirm nor deny the reports.

The plan to buy an additional 40 warplanes surfaced after Washington announced in 2003 that it would redeploy forces away from the border with North Korea and cut the number of U.S. troops here by one-third.

Troop numbers have been reduced from 37,000 to 31,000 but further cuts are planned by 2008.

Roh has stressed the need for South Korea to develop a more independent defensive capability that is less reliant on U.S. support. He has also called for the return of command of its own forces to South Korea during wartime.

Under a mutual defense pact, 650,000 South Korean troops backed by U.S. forces have been squared off against North Korea’s 1.1-million-strong army on the peninsula since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The United States assumes joint command of the combined forces during time of war.

Defense experts say South Korea needs to boost defense spending significantly if it intends to be more independent of the United States.

They say the fighter jets will be effective in search and destroy missions against North Korea’s long-range artillery pieces dug into caves and bunkers along the border in case of a war.