South Korea is changing the decision on sea patrol helicopters
The reason for the change in the position of South Korea is the US proposal, which was received by 14 in November last year after the close of trading. The United States expressed its intention to sell MH-60R Seahawk helicopters to Korea under the program of the Ministry of Defense FMS (eng. Foreign Military Sales). Under these conditions, the Office of Defense Procurement Programs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (English Defense Acquisition Program Administration), which previously set the task to acquire the second turn of sea patrol helicopters in the number of 12 units, is considering the possibility of resuming the tender, but this time two offers will be considered instead of three. Sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan report that DAPA is preparing to announce a tender in the near future during the first half of 2019.
DAPA thus has a choice between a direct contract with Leonardo (AgustaWestland) for the purchase of AW159 Wildcat and a deal with Lockheed Martin (Sikorsky) through the FMS program for the acquisition of MH-60R Seahawk. It can still be stated that AW159 Wildcat is the favorite of this competition: in 2016, the 8 of these helicopters were delivered to South Korea, and the choice of Wildcat to complete the second stage of the acquisition of helicopters has a significant advantage in terms of interoperability.
The final decision can change the price of the issue - one of the advantages of the transaction through the FMS is, as a rule, the lower cost of the contract in comparison with the direct transaction. According to the available information, the USA is ready to sell RC 12 units MH-60R Seahawk for 840 million dollars (950 billion won). Leonardo is ready to offer about the same price for AW159 Wildcat - at various times different numbers were called from 400 to 800 million dollars, while the conditions of the previous tender assumed the maximum contract value for 12 helicopters 1,9 billion dollars. Except for financial benefits, the FMS program has few benefits. South Korea has a negative experience of acquiring F-35 fighters through the FMS system, in the case of which there were violations of the delivery time by the American side, and RK’s attempts to obtain compensation remained unsuccessful.
- Valentin Voloshchak
- http://www.military-today.com
Information