South Korea is changing the decision on sea patrol helicopters

4
A number of sources in the military circles of the Republic of Korea announced that the Republic of Kazakhstan would revise the scheme of the acquisition of naval patrol helicopters for the country's Navy. Instead of the agreement reached in the autumn of 2018 on the acquisition of AW12 Wildcat helicopters by the European company Leonardo, South Korea will resume the tender, which will be Lockheed Martin and Leonardo.

South Korea is changing the decision on sea patrol helicopters

Second chance for MH-60R Seahawk?




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.
Our news channels

Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest news and the most important events of the day.

4 comments
Information
Dear reader, to leave comments on the publication, you must sign in.
  1. 0
    23 January 2019 10: 18
    If you save twice, of course, there is interest in replaying the deal.
  2. 0
    23 January 2019 10: 26
    Yes, the savings are very significant, but there is also such a thing as "price-quality ratio".
  3. +2
    23 January 2019 10: 34
    Cheaper doesn't always mean better. The Koreans already have "wild cats", so why do they need different types of anti-submarine warriors?
  4. +1
    23 January 2019 12: 18
    Krailovo leads to Popalov.
    (popular wisdom)

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"