December 26th, 2012 at 8:25 am » Comments (2)

This has been a very long time coming but it appears that South Korea will finally be allowed to purchase the Global Hawks they have long wanted: The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defence from any attack by the heavily armed North. Seoul has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4 “Global Hawk” remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement dated
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September 13th, 2011 at 7:19 am » Comments (4)

The South Koreans have been for years trying to purchase the Global Hawk from the US, but the US has continuously put off selling the Global Hawks due to fears of technology being leaked.  It appears now that the US is just going to fly the Global Hawks over South Korea to monitor North Korean activities instead of selling them: The U.S. is negotiating with South Korea to fly the RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone near the Demilitarized Zone, a move that could provide an unprecedented view of goings-on in
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March 11th, 2011 at 3:48 am » Comments (15)

Long time readers may remember that the South Korean government under former President Roh Moo-hyun were interested in buy the US high altitude UAV called the Global Hawk: However, the US government refused to sell Global Hawks to South Korea in fear of technology being leaked.  Then after the election of current South Korean President Lee Myung-bak the US changed its tune and was willing to sell Global Hawk to the ROK.  However, like I mentioned when the announcement happened, the problem with leaked technology just doesn’t magically stop because
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January 5th, 2009 at 3:48 am » Comments (4)

After initially denying Korea the ability to buy Global Hawks now it appears with the election of Lee Myung-bak that the US is now interested again in selling the UAV spy planes to Korea again: The USA has made effective use of Global Hawks since its formal unveiling in 1997, which has prompted interest from other countries. Germany will develop and induct its EuroHawk version under a EUR 430 million program, and NATO’s AGS system will now deploy Global Hawk UAVs instead of a more effective combination of Global Hawks
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July 20th, 2007 at 8:48 pm » Comments (3)

Two year ago the South Korean government tried to puchase the Global Hawks and was denied.  I guess if you fail once try, try again: South Korea said Wednesday it is still seeking to buy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the United States despite Washington’s previous refusal to sell it the high-altitude spy plane. The defence ministry plans to acquire four Global Hawk UAVs by 2012, a spokesman told AFP. The 45-million-dollar craft can cruise at an altitude of 19,500 metres (more than 64,000 feet) for up to 42 hours
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July 13th, 2006 at 4:22 am » Comments (1)

Just another indication of how far the rift in the US-ROK alliance is growing: According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, military authorities requested the U.S. to sell it four Global Hawks in 2008 at last year’s SCC in Hawaii in order to secure independent surveillance ability on North Korea. Korea requested this several times. However, last June, the U.S. put out a not for sale policy and have rejected Korea’s requests. So why would the US deny this system to our “blood allies” the South Koreans?  You shouldn’t have
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