This is a lot of money going into developing these South Korean missiles which I wonder if they also have plans to eventually export once the technology is proven?:
South Korea’s defense ministry has requested 2.5 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) over the next five years to “drastically” beef up its missile arsenal to better cope with missile and nuclear threats from North Korea, a military official said Tuesday.
The budget request was made at a meeting of relevant ministers on fiscal policy, headed by President Lee Myung-bak on April 28, the official said, days after the South’s military unveiled a new cruise missile that can hit any target in North Korea.
“The Ministry of National Defense requested budget funds to drastically strengthen its missile arsenal to cope with threats by North Korea, at the conference on national finance on April 28,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
At the conference, the ministry proposed it “needs 2.5 trillion won in its budget over the next five years” to bolster its missile capability, including long-range cruise missiles and the locally-produced GPS-Guided Bomb, the Korean version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, the official said.
North Korea defied international warnings and launched a long-range rocket on April 13, although it fell apart shortly after take-off. Concerns have grown that the North may soon conduct a third nuclear test as its two previous rocket launches in 2006 and 2009 were followed by nuclear tests.
In a rare announcement on April 19, the South’s military unveiled a new long-range cruise missile that puts all nuclear and missile sites in the North Korean territory within striking distance.
The surface-to-surface Hyunmu-3C has a range of up to 1,500 kilometers. Previous versions of the Hyunmu-3A and Hyunmu-3B, with ranges of 500 km and 1,000 km, are already in service.
Along with the new cruise missile, the South’s military has also deployed a new tactical ballistic missile with a range of 300 km, which is “more powerful than” the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System developed by the United States, officials said. [Yonhap]
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11:26 pm on May 22nd, 2012 1
That whole thing about North Korea’s threat…Please spare us Mr. Yonhap Reporter. If North Korea didn’t exist, politicians would find another pretext to funnel public funds into the pockets of corporations.
4:23 am on May 23rd, 2012 2
If the sun didn’t exist I wouldn’t have to buy sunglasses…wait that sounds as stupid as…
9:25 am on May 23rd, 2012 3
“That whole thing about North Korea’s threat…Please spare us Mr. Yonhap Reporter. If North Korea didn’t exist, politicians would find another pretext to funnel public funds into the pockets of corporations.”
Hm… weren’t you the terrible expert who had said that tracked self-propelled howitzers couldn’t navigate off-road terrain? Maybe it’s you who can spare us your ‘expert opinion’ this time.
“This is a lot of money going into developing these South Korean missiles which I wonder if they also have plans to eventually export once the technology is proven?:”
It’s not for developing; the missiles are already developed. They money’s for mass-producing them. You can see videos of them here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvH6JfPc7Qg
These missiles will not be exported. It’s well known that the US is the main opposition to Korea’s missiles program despite the need for defense self-sufficiency because of non-proliferation and China/Japan issues. Building them for export would be even less of an excuse.