Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Corruption claims with S.Korean fighter selection

Not very much trust in South Korea over the fighter competition.

On the 15 former ROKAF chiefs' letter to President Park Geun-hye on securing stealth capability at all cost, Assemblyman Chung revealed that former chief Kim, who was arrested for leaking classified information to Lockheed Martin for KRW 2.5 billion, and Han, who allegedly received bribery from the U.S. company in 1993 regarding the ROK's earlier procurement program to purchase F-16, also made by Lockheed Martin. Jung concluded that the two former ROKAF chiefs have a history of corruption, and he "has to doubt" whether the letter was for national security or Lockheed Martin. "Lockheed Martin needs to be held responsibility for its attempt to lead the public opinion that F-X is for stealth fighter jets, and the company should be excluded from participating in the program."

And:

Assemblyman Jung Hee-soo of the ruling Saenuri Party said that: "While the MND has been confused with the necessity of procuring stealth fighter jets, ROKAF now faces the inevitable holes in its air power, and ROK's national credit has fallen." He added that with F-15SE declined, there is a notion of "stealth is everything," which would put ROK in a disadvantageous situation when negotiating with Lockheed Martin." Meanwhile, Assemblyman Kim Jin-pyo of the main opposition Democratic Party was quoted saying that "Minister of National Defense made a 180-degree turn on procuring stealth fighter jets, and that is one of reasons the KRW 8.3 trillion national program is stalled. (The Minister) Should apologize for damages to the national credit and to general public's trust level on the national defense programs."

But, what kind of "stealth"?


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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Aviation Week (ARES blog) F-35 posts (2007 to present)
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)

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