The Korea Herald July 07, 2004
'Miracle' helicopter project nears liftoff
By Andrew Petty
This weekend, the Defense Ministry will narrow down the list of bidders trying to win a contract to design a "miracle" helicopter that could be Korea's ticket into the lucrative export market. At a cost of 10 trillion won ($8.6 billion), it is Korea's largest defense project and has attracted bids from Boeing, Bell and Sikorsky from the United States, Eurocopter from France and AugustaWestland from Britain.
A partnership with any one of these companies can give Korea the most cutting edge and sensitive helicopter technology in the world. The current second phase of the bidding process will pare the contestants to two or three manufacturers, with the winner to be chosen in September based on whoever makes the best and lowest bid, a ministry official said. The ministry has forbidden the companies from providing any details of their proposals to the media out of concern for fear this would make the competition unfair and could influence the decision makers. Even though the world's top aerospace companies are bidding for the job, experts in the field are critical of the ambitious project codenamed Korea Multi-role Helicopter.
Korea wants to build a hybrid vehicle - a "next generation" helicopter - that combines cargo and attack concepts into one design. The ministry said the helicopter will be custom-made for Korea's climate and geographical characteristics.
The government aims to build possibly 500 new aircraft - two models for utility and attack - to replace its aging inventory by 2012. Plans are also in the works to make another 500 helicopters simultaneously for export. The size and cost of what is an "experimental aircraft" project has raised many eyebrows.
Critics point to the problems of the Russian Mil-24 helicopter. Built in the 1980s, it was a vicious-looking aircraft with cannons and missile pods, and was capable of also carrying eight fully-equipped soldiers. With or without a full load, the frame of the helicopter made it a larger, fatter target and Afghan guerrillas knocked scores of them down.
"The lesson here: the jack of all trades is a master of none," said Joshua Stanton, an avid military enthusiast.
A senior researcher for the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said the projected Korean attack helicopter will have to be used as a second line of defense, considering its inflated size.
In any combat situation, Korean forces will have to secure air dominance before deploying the helicopters, he said. "Without air dominance, the helicopter will be a good target for the enemy," said Park Seon-seop of the KIDA.
Filling such a large order of aircraft as envisioned in the project plan may be diffucult, a military analyst based in the United States said. John Pike of the thing tank Global Security said if problems arose along the way, it is possible the production schedule will be delayed and cutbacks made along the way to meet the deadline, resulting in a fairly different craft than projected. The KMH project management office is concerned about setbacks and postponements, but is putting a lot of faith in the chosen foreign manufacturer to shoulder the responsibility of sticking to the schedule. Production will not begin until 2009, and the foreign manufacturer will use the intervening time to develop and test prototypes.
Last October, the cost of the project was originally announced as 15 trillion won, but has since been reduced drastically because of the military's efforts to cut back its spending, a KMH official said.
Analysts also say the military cannot spend as much money as originally planned because it now needs to mitigate planned U.S. troop withdrawals. Many view Korea's inventory of helicopters as outdated. Malfunctions on a number of the older craft - some left over from the Vietnam war era - have resulted in crashes and deaths. The Huey and Cobra models have been around for at least 30 years and are now becoming too expensive to maintain. Also, they are vulnerable to ground fire because they lack armor.
Korea has been manufacturing Black Hawks, which are cheap, reliable and can be used for almost any purpose.
Instead of building more of the American-designed Black Hawks, the Defense Ministry and Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy sees potential in developing Korea's own brand, particularly cashing in on export dollars.
Brig. Gen. Jung Won-mo, head of the KMH project, previously told the media the plan could generate 27 trillion won of production over 30 years and increase exports by 11 trillion won.
The core components will be made in Korea, providing job security to several local firms. So far, only the Korea Aerospace Industry, a pool of major aircraft developers, has been contracted to work on the project. "Conversely, building up the helicopter industry might not do much to defend against North Korea, so it depends on what problem one is trying to solve," said Pike.
© Copyright 2004, The Korea Herald
