S.Korea to apply private advanced tech to military weapons in 5 years

South Korea has approved a fast-track system that slashes complex administrative procedures for application of private technology to the military’s weapons systems.

This is expected to drastically cut the acquisition period of the national defense weapons system from an average of 12 years to seven.

The government-run Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Wednesday said the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a partial amendment to the Defense Acquisition Act to allow a new method of procuring weapons systems. If announced next week, it will take effect in August. 

The gist is the adoption of a weapon procurement procedure separate from the general one.

The new and faster procurement method has two parts. The first is expedited requirements featuring a simplified procedure allowing adoption of commercial technologies developed by the private sector or government in weapons systems within five years.

The second is omission of the analytic stages such as prior research and requirement verification, something that allows the adoption of a basic business strategy to enable a project's launch.

The military for six months will test a product to which innovative private technology is applied, and if its performance is proven, official adoption will come within five years.

Under this project, Hyundai Rotem will develop by next year a multi-legged walking robot for counterterrorism operations and deliver prototypes to the military.

Write to Dong-Hyun Kim at 3code@hankyung.com