Helicopter development program to start in October

South Korea will begin its largest-ever military procurement program to develop advanced helicopters next month, the defense ministry said yesterday.
The government said it would spend 15 trillion won ($13 billion) on the program, code-named KMH for Korea Multirole Helicopter, despite the high degree of controversy that exists over whether the project is cost-effective. The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy jointly proposed the plan for the helicopter development program, and the government’s aviation and space industry policy deliberation council decided yesterday to go ahead with the plan.
The program aims to replace the military’s aging helicopters and to obtain an additional 500 new helicopters equipped with advanced technology, Brigadier General Jeong Won-mo, head of the defense ministry-led KMH project, said. About 2 trillion won of the planned 15 trillion won will be spent on research and development, he added.
The program would enable domestic private companies to upgrade their products, with the goal of being ranked as the world’s seventh largest helicopter-manufacturing nation, General Jeong said. “From an economic standpoint, the project would stimulate about 27 trillion won worth of production over 30 years and increase exports by 11 trillion won.”
The project aims to complete the development of new utility helicopters by 2010, and attack helicopters by 2012, the defense ministry said. The government plans to launch a special team for the program next month. It will finish drafting a plan before the end of this year and select a foreign partner by the end of the first half of 2004.

by Ser Myo-ja