South Korean Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

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Naval Today said:

Chairman of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Choi, Yoon-hee visited the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) March 16 during the ship’s inaugural port visit to Busan.

While on board Fort Worth, Choi toured the ship and gained a better understanding of how the U.S. Navy is expanding the operational potential of the littoral combat ship through its recent participation in the Foal Eagle bilateral naval exercises that ran from March 8-12.

During the visit, Choi toured multiple spaces including Fort Worth’s bridge and mission control center as well as her airborne and waterborne mission zones. In these spaces, the ROK’s senior uniformed military officer learned more about the littoral combat ship’s unique capabilities, which include speed, shallow draft and modularity.

Fort Worth will employ the surface warfare mission package for her entire deployment, augmenting her 57mm gun and rolling airframe missile launcher with two 30mm guns, two 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats, two six-member maritime security boarding teams, a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and a MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system.

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Naval Today said:

U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy ships concluded the maritime portion of exercise Foal Eagle, March 11.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112), USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), and USS Lassen (DDG 82) operated with a total of 16 ROK Navy ships in port and at sea for seven days on both coasts of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) is the first littoral combat ship to operate as part of Foal Eagle’s maritime participants involved in the exercise.

Michael Murphy, John S. McCain, and Lassen, each with a crew of about 300 Sailors, will continue patrols throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Fort Worth will remain deployed to the region as part of a 16-month rotational patrol. Each ship is equipped to conduct independent operations, with a carrier strike group, or with other partner navies to demonstrate U.S. commitment to security and stability across the region.

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LONDON — When Lockheed Martin said last year it was to use a European-built satellite as part of its offset offering in a $7 billion agreement with South Korea to buy F-35A fighters, the company was short on detail as to exactly what was involved in this unusual arrangement.

That veil of secrecy lifted a little Tuesday, when a seemingly innocuous press release posted on the website of Blenheim Capital announced the British offset experts had set up a subsidiary company in Luxembourg to "purchase, launch and provide satellite communications capacity, initially to the Asia Pacific region."

Neither Lockheed Martin nor Blenheim would comment on whether there was a link between the statement last year and the offset companies announcement this week.

But a European executive with knowledge of the satellite communications industry said Blenheim is part of a deal involving the supply of one military and two civil satellites as part of the offset arrangement between Lockheed Martin and South Korea.

Lockheed agreed to a deal with South Korea for the sale of 40 F-35 combat jets last year. Some 50 percent of the value of the near $7 billion agreement is covered by offset arrangements.

There are no official details of how any satellite arrangement might work, but the executive — who asked not to be named — said he believed that one route might involve discharging the offset through the provision of low-cost equity funding to support the satellite production and launch.

Blenheim said in its release that the business "will be seeded with a $150 million investment," but declined comment on the source of those funds.

Reuters last September reported Lockheed's F-35 international business development director, Steve Over, as saying the company would buy and launch the satellite by 2017.

The satellites would be built in Europe, even though Lockheed Martin is a spacecraft supplier in its own right.

Blenheim said in a press release on its website that its new Luxembourg subsidiary, known as Blenheim Space, had entered into a "supply agreement with a major satellite provider for an initial three satellites and is currently in negotiation with a global telecommunications provider to further develop the business."

"The first satellite is nearing full technical definition with a view to launching in early 2018 with an established launch services provider. It is anticipated that the subsequent two satellites will be fully defined and scheduled in the next six months with launch anticipated in mid-2018," Blenheim said in the release.

The offset provider declined to comment on the name of the satellite supplier. Airbus Defence and Space and Thales are Europe's main satellite builders.

Lockheed declined to comment on why its own satellites are not being used in the deal.

The European executive said the reason for not using Lockheed Martin-built satellites may be related to ITAR restrictions but it could just as likely be something such as a lack of suitable export finance in the US.

Grant Rogan, the CEO of Blenheim Capital, said the company's space venture is "entering a market that is undergoing rapid change and evolution with smaller commercial players now able to work alongside major corporations and governments to enable cost-effective solutions to our growing need for fast and secure communications around the world."

Offsets typically require overseas defense equipment suppliers to directly or indirectly invest cash and technology in the economic and social development of the nation buying the arms.

The requirement for offsets differ from country to country but usually run between 50 and 100 percent of the contract price although sometimes they can be more than the value of the equipment or service contract itself.

Lockheed Martin had offset obligations totaling just over $13 billion by the end of last year, according to its latest annual report.

Entirely by coincidence, military communications capacity in Asia received a further boost earlier this week when the British Ministry of Defence announced it was repositioning one of its Skynet 5 satellites to the Asia Pacific region for the first time.

A ground station is being built in Australia as part of a multimillion pound investment to provide the British with secure communications in the region.

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Miragedriver said:

Airbus partner for the development of civil and armed light helicopters in South Korea

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Washington says it wants to deploy the system, known as THAAD, to South Korea as a deterrent to military provocation by North Korea.

"Such a development cannot but cause concern about the destructive influence of the United States' global missile defense on international security," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In a region where the situation is already extremely complicated in terms of security, this could serve as another push toward an arms race in northeast Asia and further complicate any resolution of the nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula," the statement said.

China has also already warned that deployment of the system would undermine peace and stability in the region.

Faced with growing isolation from the West over the Ukraine crisis, Russia has moved to bolster ties with former Cold War-ally North Korea.

Moscow and Pyongyang have named 2015 a "year of friendship" between the two countries and the Kremlin says reclusive leader Kim Jong-Un is set to make his first official trip abroad to visit Russia's World War Two victory commemoration in May.

South Korea and the United States will launch a massive landing drill March 28 as the climax of an ongoing joint military exercise which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

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Jura said:

hmmm ... this popped up on DefenseNews several minutes ago:
Russia Warns US Against Sending Missile Defense System to South Korea

source:

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