S. Korea scraps plan to buy UAVs due to weapons treaty

[unhappycamper]

S. Korea scraps plan to buy UAVs due to weapons treaty
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 6, 2008

SEOUL — The South Korean military won’t be getting the unmanned airplanes the national assembly budgeted for because buying them from the United States would violate a multinational accord, Ministry of Defense officials said Friday.

The assembly cut 5.8 billion won (about $6.2 million) that was earmarked in its defense budget for eventual procurement of Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles because buying them from U.S.-based Northrop Grumman would have violated the Missile Technology Control Regime, the MND spokesman confirmed.

The accord was created in 1987 by the United States and six other nations to control unmanned systems capable of delivering nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

The MTCR now includes 34 countries, and in 1992, it was expanded to include unmanned airplanes.

The defense ministry asked for UAV funding early in 2007 in hopes that the United States would lift the ban before the recent budget round, the spokesman said Friday.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51433