“By entering the world’s top four defense exporters after the United States, Russia and France, the (South Korean) defense industry will become a strategic industrialization and a defense powerhouse,” Yoon stated on the presidential workplace.
In 2021, South Korea ranked 10th on this planet in arms transfers, in accordance to the authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
With arms exports valued at $566 million, in accordance to SIPRI’s distinctive trend-indicator worth monitoring system, Seoul was effectively behind final 12 months’s No. four exporter, Italy, which offered arms price $1.7 billion.
For comparability, US arms transfers had been calculated to be $10.6 billion.
South Korea has already taken steps to obtain its top 4 ambitions.
And in February it inked a $1.7 billion cope with Egypt to provide it with K9 self-propelled howitzers and assist autos.
Late final 12 months, South Korea made one other huge deal to provide Australia with K9s.
If South Korea meets Yoon’s objective, it’ll surpass not solely Italy, however regional energy China in addition to Germany, Spain, Israel and the United Kingdom, in accordance to the SIPRI rankings.
“I believe this is a very ambitious goal,” stated Chun In-Bum, a retired South Korean normal turned army analyst.
“South Korea and its arms industry have to do a lot of work,” he stated.
‘Defense main league’
Yoon is basically constructing on initiatives began below his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, whom Yoon succeeded in May.
At a protection exhibition close to Seoul final October, Moon vowed to innovate “in line with changes in the security environment and technological progress.”
The investments begun by Moon are paying off, analysts say.
Seoul’s army {hardware} gives a inexpensive however extraordinarily succesful different to Washington’s weapons programs and that is one thing the US ought to embrace, the University of Sydney researchers stated.
The homegrown supersonic fighter, which had its first profitable check flight in July, is anticipated to present a lift of about $18.three billion to the South Korean arms trade, Yoon stated Wednesday.
Budget stretchers
For patrons, the South Korean weapons could be a manner to stretch protection budgets.
The South Korean K2 tanks, as an example, are comparable to dear top-of-the-line important battle tanks just like the American M1A2 Abrams, stated Chun, the previous South Korean normal.
Poland introduced earlier this 12 months it will purchase 250 Abrams, however US manufacturing traces are restricted and US army wants come first. The buy of nearly 1,000 Korean K2s permits Warsaw to add important numbers faster than it may get new US-made tanks, analysts say.
That’s excellent news for US pursuits even when US protection firms aren’t profiting, they are saying.
“Cast in a strategic light, Seoul’s growing ability and willingness to supply advanced capabilities to other US allies should be welcomed, particularly as the Biden administration grapples with the parallel challenges of resourcing military strategies in Europe and the Indo-Pacific while shoring up America’s own defense industrial capacity,” Lee and Corben wrote.
Questions have been raised about how shut Seoul and Washington actually are on key challenges.
“Even if questions remain over the true extent of South Korea’s strategic alignment with the United States, Seoul is nevertheless generating strategic effects by arming states facing Chinese and Russian coercion,” Lee and Corbin wrote.
Chun stated the not too long ago introduced sale of tanks to Poland may convey advantages for the South Korean army, too.
The K2 tanks in South Korea’s stock should not as succesful as these the Poles might be getting as a result of important enhancements — together with higher defenses — have been made for the reason that K2s had been launched in 2014, he stated.
“I hope this is going to be a catalyst for Koreans. We have 2,000 tanks, but if you have legacy tanks, they’re not worth a thing. We saw this in Ukraine. We need state of the art tanks to overcome state-of-the-art antitank missiles. I’m hoping that this would be a catalyst for that,” Chun stated.