Posted on 09/13/2006 5:43:20 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Seoul seeks to buy U.S. spy planes
South Korea is seeking to buy four U.S. unmanned spy planes but Washington is reluctant to sell them for fear of a possible leak of confidential technology, a Seoul official said yesterday. The Defense Ministry will ask the United States later this month to sell Global Hawk surveillance aircraft which would greatly enhance the nation's intelligence-gathering capability.
"During the Security Policy Initiative session, we are planning to request the United States to permit the sale of Global Hawk," the official said requesting anonymity.
The bimonthly security meeting will be held in Washington Sept. 27-28. The official said the sale request will be made informally and is not on the official agenda.
"We will stress our need for this unmanned aircraft during the meeting, and ask for U.S. cooperation on the matter," he said.
The $45-million unmanned aerial vehicle can cruise at a high-altitude of 20 kilometers for up to 42 hours. It can also identify 30-centimeter-size objects on the ground as well as provide geographic images of areas up to 3,000 kilometers wide.
Intelligence gathering capability is a crucial condition for the nation to recover wartime operational control of its troops from the United States. Korea relies heavily on the United States for aerial intelligence.
Korea has developed low-altitude surveillance planes and also plans to begin developing a medium-altitude spy plane this year. It hopes to complete the project by 2016. It hopes to purchase the cutting-edge aircraft from 2008.
Since last year, the Seoul government has sought to purchase four Global Hawks. In contrast, the U.S. government has already endorsed sale of the aircraft to Japan and Australia.
The Korean government again filed a written request last month to the U.S. Department of Defense. The Pentagon has given no answer yet, the official said.
The refusal came amid growing concerns about the weakening of the military alliance between the two countries.
Some analysts have raised concerns that Washington may be downgrading its military ties with Seoul through export controls of such strategically sensitive weapons.
(davidpooh@heraldm.com)
By Jin Dae-woong
2006.09.11
should delay the decision until the conservative win power in South Korea
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