Obama administration moves to sell Global Hawks to South Korea

The Obama administration has begun consulting Congress on intention to sell four RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 surveillance planes to South Korea.

South Korea has been under pressure to boost surveillance capabilities over North Korea after two attacks against it killed 50 people last year, driving tensions on the Korean peninsula to the highest levels in decades.

Northrop Grumman, which builds the high-flying, long-endurance airframe said Seoul was considering buying four RQ-4 Global Hawk “Block 30″ drones, which can carry intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads.

There was no immediate word on when formal notification of a proposed sale might take place, nor on the potential overall value. Deliveries could take place in 2014 and 2015 if a government-to-government deal is signed this year, Gemma Loochkartt, a company spokeswoman, said by email on Wednesday.

The RQ-4 Block 30 airframes sell for roughly $30 million apiece, not including their payloads. The State Department declined to comment pending formal notification of a proposed Global Hawk sale to Congress.The U.S. Air Force, which would broker the deal, and South Korea’s embassy in Washington also had no immediate comment.

An official at the South Korean Defense Ministry’s procurement agency said it remains interested in acquiring the aircraft system and is waiting for Washington to have a formal go-ahead to negotiate the sale.

“Our interest is based on the operational need of our military,” the official said.

The head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration Noh Dae-lae had earlier expressed concern about the system’s reliability after reports about the aircraft’s technical shortfalls in May.

Source: Reuters

Photo: RQ-4 Global Hawk “Block 30″ drones

(2.09.2011)