Successful Proposal for the Development Project of a Special Operations Submachine Gun

[Kim Jong-ha, Dean of the Graduate School of Defense Strategy and Management at Hannam University] The development project for a submachine gun for special operations is a project to develop a new submachine gun to replace the existing K1A submachine gun used by special forces by 2023, and to supply it to special forces units between 2024 and 2025. This project is an unprecedented bidding competition in the history of Korean defense industry between large company-large company (firearm manufacturer-sight manufacturer) and small company-small company (firearm manufacturer-sight manufacturer) consortiums. This alone has attracted attention, but if selected as the supplier this time, there is also a possibility of sequential supply to each military branch, which has further focused the world's interest on the outcome.

In this process, there are also critical voices regarding the competition among companies, citing the small size of the domestic firearms market. However, it was a good decision by the government to choose a competitive bidding method. In fact, since the abolition of the professional and affiliated system in 2008, most weapon system productions have shifted to a competitive system, but only firearms production has maintained a monopoly system. Because of this, the difficulties our military has experienced have been considerable. The monopolistic company failed to properly demonstrate performance improvements at the level required by the requesting forces and the ability to develop new types of rifles, and furthermore, did not achieve significant success in overseas exports. Cases such as special forces upgrading firearms by modifying commercial products themselves or our company’s mid-term elimination in India’s machine gun project clearly prove this. Especially, we should be ashamed that special forces even considered replacing their standard firearms with foreign-made ones instead of domestic products.

Anyway, if the government has decided to enhance the technological competitiveness of domestic firearm manufacturers through a multiple-competition system this time, it will be necessary to implement at least the following policy measures.

First, at least for the special forces units, it is necessary to pay attention to identifying problems of firearms through experiments considering actual operational environments, and to find improvement measures so that upgraded firearms can be continuously maintained. This is because the firearms used by special forces have different requirements depending on the mission and operational environment, so periodic replacement is necessary. Doing so will improve the combat power of special forces, help firearm manufacturers acquire technological competitiveness, and further facilitate entry into overseas export markets. In fact, although the domestic firearms market is small, the overseas market is very large. Especially in the United States, the firearms market is several times larger than that of the Korean military. As the saying goes, “A good gun does not age,” if a good gun is made, there should be little worry about overseas exports.

Second, it is necessary to have policies to nurture medium-sized and small companies with technological capabilities not only in the firearms field but across all weapon systems. For excellent medium and small companies to participate in the domestic weapon system acquisition market, it is necessary to reflect not only domestic supply but also overseas supply performance in evaluations. Doing so will open many paths for technologically capable domestic and foreign companies to participate in the domestic defense market. Perhaps this should be recognized as the way to develop our defense technology and further enhance defense export competitiveness.

Finally, whether it is a weapon system or a power support system project, the issue of monopoly or exclusive systems must always be considered in the company selection process. Companies must be selected through competition, and it is necessary to prevent any specific company from monopolizing quantities over a long period. This is because such a situation is highly likely to cause many problems militarily, economically, and technologically.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.