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If the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division is withdrawn from its positions near the North-South border, the costs to replace its equipment will total W5.5 trillion ($4.6 billion), if the South is to maintain the war-fighting potential there. The figure is about 31.5 percent of this year¡¯s defense budget of W17.4 trillion.
A Grand National Party lawmaker and member of the National Assembly's defense committee, Park Se-hwan, said Monday that the equipment of U.S. forces that would need to be replaced included $2.6 billion in ground equipment, $1.8 billion in air equipment and $51.9 million in anti-air weapons such as missiles. This includes M1A1 tanks, M2 armored vehicles, 155§® self-propelled guns, MLRS/ATCMS (multi-engine rockets), AH-64 Apache helicopters, OH-58D scout helicopters, UH-60 helicopters, stinger missiles and avenger missiles.
¡°If we include emergency ammunition, entrainment equipment, support brigades and engineering brigades, it will take at least minimum of $5 billion,¡± Park said.
Park pointd out that the Ministry of Defense has estimated that it would cost $3-5 billion if the 2nd Division moves south of the Han River. But that represents only pure transition costs, not costs for replacing the military capability.
¡°The Ministry of Defense presented a defense budget that is 3.2 percent of the GDP," Park said. "However, the government reduced this to 2.8 percent because of a lack of funds. Taking into consideration the tremendous costs for substitute equipment, we should consider postponing the repositioning of the 2nd Division for as long as possible.¡±
(Heo Yong-beom, heo@chosun.com )
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