By
Jim Wolf Dec 25
(Reuters)
- The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced
spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the
heavily armed North.
Seoul
has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4
"Global Hawk" remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance
capabilities, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a
statement dated on Monday and distributed on Tuesday.
South
Korea needs such systems to assume top responsibility for
intelligence-gathering from the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command as scheduled
in 2015, the security agency said in releasing a notice to U.S. lawmakers.
"The
proposed sale of the RQ-4 will maintain adequate intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance capabilities and will ensure the alliance is able to monitor
and deter regional threats in 2015 and beyond," the notice said.
The
United States has agreed with Seoul to turn over the wartime command of Korean
troops later this decade. Current arrangements grew from the U.S. role in the
1950-1953 Korean War that repelled a North Korean takeover of the South.
Seoul
has shown interest in the high-altitude, long-endurance Global Hawk platform
for at least four years. The system, akin to Lockheed Martin Corp's U-2 spy
plane, may be optimized to scan large areas for stationary and moving targets
by day or night and despite cloud cover.
It
transmits imagery and other data from 60,000 feet at near real-time speed,
using electro-optical, infrared and radar-imaging sensors built by Raytheon Co.
The
possible sale has been held up by discussions involving price, aircraft
configuration and a go-slow on release of such technology subject to a
voluntary 34-nation arms control pact.
The
Defense Department began informally consulting Congress on the possible Global
Hawk sale in the summer of 2011, only to withdraw it pending further work on
the make-up of the proposed export to Seoul amid lawmakers' arms-control
concerns.
The
formal notification to Congress came less than two weeks after a North Korean
space launch of a satellite atop a multi-stage rocket, a first for the
reclusive state, widely seen as advancing its ballistic missile program.
A
White House statement denounced the December 12 launch as a "highly
provocative act" that would bear consequences for violations of United
Nations resolutions. The North is banned from testing missile or nuclear
technology under international sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009
nuclear weapons tests.
In
October 2008, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the
United States was "very sympathetic" to South Korea's interest in
Global Hawk. But he cited issues that had to be overcome because of the
so-called Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR.
The
pact, established in 1987, has been credited with slowing the spread of
ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that potentially could
be used for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.
Pact
members, including the United States, agree to curb their exports of systems
capable of carrying a 500-kilogram (1,102-pound) payload at least 300
kilometers (186 miles). The Global Hawk falls under a strong presumption
against export under MTCR guidelines.
The
notification to Congress did not mention that a U.S. government waiver for such
an export would be required.
Arms-control
advocates fear that this could fuel instability and stir regional arms-race
dynamics as well as provide diplomatic cover for an expansion of such exports
by Russia, China and others.
The
Obama administration agreed earlier this year to let South Korea, a treaty
ally, stretch the range of its ballistic missile systems to cover all of North
Korea, going beyond the voluntary pact's 300 km (186 miles).
The
congressional notification is required by U.S. law and does not mean that a
deal has been concluded.
If
a sale takes place, it would be for the third generation of Global Hawk drones
known as Block 30, the security agency's notice to Congress said.
The
Pentagon, in its fiscal 2013 budget request, proposed mothballing its own Block
30 Global Hawks and ending plans to buy more of that generation. Doing so would
have no effect on the administration's plans to acquire other versions of the
long-range drone.
South
Korea's possible Global Hawk purchase would mark the system's first sale in the
Asia-Pacific region. It has already been sold to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
Australia,
Japan and Singapore each have shown interest in buying Global Hawk systems,
Northrop Grumman officials have said. Company representatives had no comment on
the Christmas holiday on the proposed sale to Seoul.
(Reporting
by Jim Wolf; Editing by Sandra Maler)
===
===
U.S.
plans to sell Global Hawks to S. Korea for US$1.2 bln
By
Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON/SEOUL,
Dec. 24 (Yonhap) -- The Pentagon has formally informed Congress of a plan to
sell four Global Hawk surveillance drones to South Korea, a related agency said
Monday.
The deal under the Foreign Military Sales
(FMS) program, if sealed, would be worth up to US$1.2 billion (1.28 trillion
won), according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) affiliated
with the Department of Defense.
It includes four RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk
remotely-piloted aircrafts equipped with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suites
(EISS), associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support, added the
DSCA.
Such a notification to Congress is mandatory
for FMS sales. Congress is expected to approve the plan, a diplomatic source
said.
"The Republic of Korea (South Korea)
needs this intelligence and surveillance capability to assume primary
responsibility for intelligence gathering from the U.S.-led Combined Forces
Command in 2015," the agency said in a press release.
It was referring to Seoul's move to take
over wartime operational control of its troops from Washington.
The South Korean military has long sought to
introduce the high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles made by Northrop Grumman
based in Virginia.
The Global Hawk drone carries a
cloud-penetrating radar, a high-resolution electro-optical digital camera and
an infrared sensor, enabling it to detect 30-centimeter-long objects while
flying 20 kilometers high.
The U.S. was apparently reluctant to sell it
to South Korea, but Washington has changed its position amid defense budget
cuts. The U.S. military has scaled back the purchases of Global Hawks,
ratcheting up the need for exports.
Critics question the capability of the Block
30 Global Hawk for its price, saying the Block 30 version isn't as capable as
Lockheed Martin's older, manned U-2 spy plane.
The U.S. Air Force hopes to buy the more
advanced Block 40 vehicles to replace the Block 20s and Block 30s in its
inventory, saying it wants to buy 15 of the drones over the next three years.
Related to the program, a Defense
Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) source said once U.S. lawmakers
approve the deal, Washington will send a letter of intent that will kick off official
negotiations. Talks are expected to start early next year, with Seoul
interested in bringing down prices that have jumped roughly threefold from when
the plan was first conceived in 2009. At first the price for the four drones
stood at 450 billion won, but this rose to 940 billion won in July 2011, before
it was marked up once again.
He said without going into details that if
the price ends up being not what Seoul has anticipated, talks may drag on for
some time. He said that the price forwarded by the DSCA to lawmakers is
different from the "actual" price.
Originally Seoul wanted to deploy the high
altitude drones by 2015 and had even considered purchasing similar unmanned
long endurance reconnaissance platforms such as Boeing's Phantom Eye and
AeroVironment Inc.'s Global Observer.
Besides the high price, Seoul will have to
look into claims that the Global Hawk has flaws that may not have been fully
worked out.
In tests conducted in late 2010, problems
were found in the drone's fuselage, navigational system, integrated sensor
processing systems, engine nozzles and the landing gear.
The builder said most of the bugs have been
corrected but Seoul has maintained that it wants to directly check to make
certain that there are no more problems.
