Crisis in Light Aircraft Carrier Development... Budget Cut Again

On the afternoon of the 31st, during the Korea-UK joint maritime opportunity exercise, the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was navigating and stationed in the southern East Sea. 2021.08.31. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The National Assembly has once again cut the budget for the development of a light aircraft carrier. The National Assembly reflected only 500 million KRW out of the 7.2 billion KRW requested by the military for the light aircraft carrier project initiation budget. The light aircraft carrier project is aimed at securing our military's first light aircraft carrier that carries vertical take-off and landing fighter jets (carrier-based aircraft) to respond to various security threats and deter provocations in anticipated conflict zones.

On the 16th, the Budget Review Subcommittee of the National Defense Committee submitted the results of next year's budget review to the full National Defense Committee meeting, announcing that the basic design budget for the light aircraft carrier was cut from 7.2 billion KRW to 500 million KRW. The government initially requested a total budget of 7.188 billion KRW, including 6.241 billion KRW for the basic design initiation fee, 848 million KRW for carrier-based aircraft data and technical support (FMS), and 99 million KRW for indirect costs. However, only domestic and international travel expenses for data collection and investigation were left, effectively putting the active promotion of the light aircraft carrier construction project on hold.

Democratic Party lawmaker Seol Hoon explained at the full meeting, "We must respect the Navy's position, but this is not something that should be rushed," adding, "The Budget Subcommittee's judgment is that the conditions to actually carry out the construction project are not in place." People Power Party lawmaker Shin Won-sik also pointed out, "A consensus on the necessity of the light aircraft carrier has not yet been formed."

On the other hand, Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Kyu-baek said, "I think the sooner the light aircraft carrier project proceeds, the better, but if this continues, won't it be fatal to the power project?" and questioned, "What can be done with 500 million KRW out of 7.2 billion KRW?"

Fellow party member Kim Byung-joo also expressed concern about the significant budget cut, saying, "If the budget is reduced like this this year, there will be setbacks again next year, so a review is necessary."

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