Suspicion of corruption involving poor-quality weapons

Against North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missiles, South Korean military focuses on modernization of its outdated weapons while depending on the U.S. nuclear umbrella. The military must not neglect either importing major weapons by spending big budget or achieving self-reliant defense based on domestic technology. However, questions are raised over performance of the K2 battle tank developed by home-grown technology and the FX F-35A stealth fighter, which the government spent 7.34 trillion won (approximately 6.92 billion U.S. dollars) to import 40 units from 2018.

In June, F-35A got a fire in the tail during takeoff from the runway at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The pilot had to escape from the aircraft after bringing it to a stop. The U.S. government reportedly notified the Korean government of its accident investigation result, which suspects an engine defect of the fighter. Korean Air Force provided opinion that engine redesign is needed based on the U.S. investigation report, but the Korean government didn’t take any further action and signed the contract to import F-35A with the U.S. company at the end of last month.

Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) explains that the contract was signed since the manufacturer Lockheed Martin promised to resolve the engine defect until the delivery of F-35A and the U.S. government also guaranteed. However, it is still hard to understand why DAPA was in such a hurry to conclude the contract despite an obvious quality issue. As it requires spending enormous tax money, whopping 121 billion won (114.15 million dollars) per unit, DAPA should have pointed out issues for improvement and led the contract to our advantage. As FX project changed from tri-party competition system to a single-party negotiation, did it put the Korean government to an inferior position where it couldn’t say anything to the U.S.?

Let’s see the K2 (Black Panther) that DAPA calls a "high-end battle tank." Hard-kill anti-missile system that detects and hits attack from the enemy has been developed, but it cannot be deployed since it has a collision with the soft-kill anti-missile system, which is already equipped. During the recent parliamentary audit, lawmakers pointed out that the state-of-the-art submarines cannot operate under water for sufficient time due to fuel cell issues, and the spare ammunition will run out within a few days in case of war. It is quite worrisome to see the waste of budget and also the loophole of defense.

This year’s budget for defense is 35.70 trillion won (33.68 billion dollars), accounting for 14.4 percent of the entire government budget. If the government fails to secure efficient weapon system after spending enormous money, how will it explain to the public? Thorough investigation must be carried out into whether there might be any corruption by "Military-mafia," aiming rake-off from the weapon trades behind the scene.