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The U.S. has notified the Korean government that it will sell it the Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft after all. Government and military sources on Sunday said at the annual Security Policy Initiative in Washington in July, the U.S. government told Korea it will sell it the drone.
During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the U.S. declined several requests by the Korean government to sell the aircraft. But already in April, after the Lee Myung-bak administration was inaugurated, the U.S. informally notified Seoul there was a possibility it might sell the aircraft to Korea.
Global Hawk is a strategic reconnaissance aircraft that can fly up to 3,500 to 4,000 km, stay in the sky for more than 36 hours, and identify a 30 cm object on the ground from 20 km above. Each aircraft costs US$45 million.
Some dozen U.S. allies including Japan, Australia and Singapore have wanted to purchase the aircraft. But the U.S. has regularly declined.
Overseas sales are prohibited under the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary association of 33 countries, including Korea, that share the goal of non-proliferation of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. But according to sources, the U.S. has devised a new way not prohibited under the MTCR to sell the Global Hawk to Korea.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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