The Korean Defence Industry – Working With Indonesia

Indodefence 2008 Journal

In August of this year the Republic of Korea (ROK) Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) stated that in 2006 Korean defence exports amounted to $850 million and that for 2008 the Korean defence industry would export more than $1 billion of defence products for the first time. This is a really significant achievement for the Korean industry.

There was a time when the defence products that Korea was capable of exporting were very limited in scope, small arms and less sophisticated natures of artillery ammunition, spare parts for US equipment and even uniforms. Today the situation is totally different; Korea is capable of supplying advanced technology equipment for a wide range of applications in the air, ground and naval sectors. The Korean government supported and promoted the establishment of a national defence industry as a means of increasing self-reliance and also because they believed that defence technology would stimulate other areas of Korean industry. The Korean government continues to promote the capabilities of industry,

through bodies such as DAPA and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). Major local players have also emerged in the shape of Doosan Infracore, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Rotem, Samsung Techwin, Samsung Thales, Daewoo Shipbuilding
& Marine Engineering (now owned by Hanwa), Hyundai Heavy Industry, Hanjin and the Poongsan Corporation amongst others. One of the key programmes that demonstrates the sophistication of the Korean defence industry is the Altay tank programme for the Turkish Land Forces Command (TLFC). Rotem in Korea had developed the XK-2 Black Panther tank for the ROK Army (see below) and the technologies developed for this programme provided the ability for the Korean company to become the key technology partner for the Turkish tank programme in competition against proposals from many of the traditional tank building countries.

Turkey has proven to be a very successful market for the Korean defence industry. The TLFC had developed a requirement for a modern 155 mm self-propelled gun system, which could then be modified with Turkish equipment to meet their exact needs. Samsung Techwin won the tender with its K-9 Thunder system which was then modified into the Firtina configuration for TLFC featuring systems from Turkish companies such
as Aselsan. The Turkish Air Force has also turned to Korea, acquiring the KT-1 training aircraft from KAI.

Developing Capability

Tank developments in Korea show how the capabilities of the Korean defence industry have evolved. In the 1970s the ROK Army was looking for a new tank that would meet its exact operational requirements under the name of ROKIT (ROK Indigenous Tank). In 1980 they negotiated an agreement with Chrysler (now General Dynamics Land Systems), who had designed the M1 Abrams tank, whereby the US company would design a tank to meet the ROKIT requirements and then transfer the technology to Korea to allow local manufacture. The ROKIT prototype was completed in 1983 and went into production at Hyundai (now Rotem) in 1984 as the K1 tank. Rotem would manufacture in excess of 535 K1 tanks, as well as a family of special vehicles based on the K1 chassis including a recovery vehicle and a bridgelayer. This set the stage for the next evolution in the ROK tank programme with the development of the K1A1 tank. Work on the K1A1 programme started in 1991 with the aim of providing the ROK Army with a tank that offered increased firepower (the 120 mm M256 44-calibre gun was selected) and more protection, the fire control system of the K1A1 was developed in Korea by Samsung Thales. The tank will remain in production through 2010. The evolution from the K1 to the K1A1 saw the evolution of tank design and building skills in Korea, this was a true indigenous tank. Equally important was the development of Korean capabilities at the systems and sub-systems level. This further enhanced the local technology base and provided the basis for future growth.

Future growth was definitely on the agenda in Korea, in 1995 work started on a next generation tank at ADD that would eventually lead to the XK2 Black Panther. The prototype XK2 was displayed in March 2007 by ADD and Rotem and the tank is on course to enter ROK Army service in 2011. The XK2 Black Panther is a true state-of-the-art main battle tank featuring a 120 mm 55-calibre gun fed by an automatic loading system, the tank has a crew of three and protection is provided by a Korean-designed modular and composite armour system. The Korean tank programme illustrates
how the government, the military and industry have worked together to create national capabilities in key technology areas. At the start they went to a top rank foreign supplier to obtain a design, in parallel with this they built the indigenous infrastructure to produce the system in Korea. By the second phase Korea had a tank programme knowledge base to exploit in order to develop a design that truly met ROK Army needs. By the third phase Korea had developed a complete tank design, development and production capability allowing them to develop a true national solution.

Note should be made of another new armoured vehicle developed in Korea by Doosan Infracore – the K-21 New Infantry Fighting Vehicle (NIFV). Doosan started in armoured vehicles by producing the US AIFV design under license in numerous different versions for the ROK Army as the Korean Infantry Fighting Vehicle (KIFV). The K-21 is an authentic Korean design developed to meet ROK Army requirements; the vehicle is amphibious and has a turret-mounted 40 mm cannon. Doosan have also been successful in export markets, selling 111 K-200A1 KIFV to Malaysia and more recently its Barracuda armoured personnel carrier to Indonesia. As previously mentioned KAI sold its KT-1 trainer aircraft to Turkey, and Indonesia has also become a customer for the aircraft with the TNI-AU acquiring 12 KT-1B aircraft. KAI is at the centre of some ambitious aerospace efforts in Korea, including the Korea Helicopter Programme (KHP)to develop a new utility helicopter with 245 to be acquired by the Korean military. Work is also getting underway on the new Korea Attack Helicopter (KAH) programme. KAI are also developing new versions of the T-50/A-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer/light attack aircraft, including the FA-50 combat aircraft that will replace aircraft such as the F-5E in ROK Air Force service.

Finally we should mention shipbuilding. Korean yards such as DSME, Hyundai and Hanjin have become major players in the most sophisticated sectors of commercial shipbuilding. In parallel with this they have grown their capabilities to meet the increasingly sophisticated requirements of the ROK Navy. For the military market
these yards started building foreign designs and then developed their own skill sets. Proof of this comes with the KDX destroyer programme, which evolved from the KDX 1 into the more complex and capable KDX 2 and now into the KDX 3, which mounts the Aegis combat system. Into the future Korea will be designing and developing a new class of submarines, KSS-3, building on license product efforts with German Type 209 and Type 214 designs. Korea is also continuing to develop its relationships with Indonesia. A good example of this is the Makassar class LPD for the TNI-AL; this Programme will see the acquisition of four LPDs by Indonesia. The first two units were built Korea, with the next two being built by PT PAL in Surabaya (the first has already been launched). To make this a reality Korea had to transfer technology and assist PT PAL with the building programme.