Korea Overseas Information Service,
SEOUL: South Korea will spend 149 billion won ($157 million) over the next five years to manufacture additional amphibious assault vehicles in a partnership with BAE Systems, the country's defense procurement agency said on Thursday.
Since 1998, South Korea has deployed 124 new amphibious landing vehicles to bolster its defenses against North Korea as well as replace its aging Marine Corps fleet.
But the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) declined to make public the number of vehicles to be produced in a third-phase project by 2010, citing the need to protect military information.
“Its design is basically the same as U.S.-made amphibious assault vehicles (AAV7) except for Korean machine guns, communication equipment and vehicle parts,” a DAPA official said, asking to remain anonymous.
U.S. troops used the AAV7s to charge into Baghdad in the Iraq war.
