US Apache Helicopters in Korea May Be Deployed in Afghanistan By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The United States is considering pulling a battalion of Apache attack helicopters out of the Korean Peninsula to deploy it to Afghanistan on an anti-terror mission, a senior diplomat said Wednesday.
The plan could create a possible security vacuum in South Korea as the high-tech U.S. attack helicopters are key assets of U.S. forces in Korea (USFK) against North Korea.
It also runs counter to pledges made by U.S. President George W. Bush during a summit with President Lee Myung-bak last month that the United States will halt the agreed reduction of troops and weapons systems to help strengthen the combined defense posture on the peninsula.
n a meeting with Korean journalists in Japan following the summit, President Lee expressed thanks to the U.S. government for keeping the current 28,500 U.S. troops, along with F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters.
``There has been informal, periodic discussions on the Apache issue,'' the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on condition of anonymity. ``But it will not affect the U.S. troop level in South Korea.''
The USFK rejected requests by Korean journalists to confirm the Apache pullout plan, only saying the U.S. Department of Defense would issue a statement on the measure.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense said it has not received any formal request from the United States on the matter.
But a military source confirmed that the deployment of Apache helicopters had been discussed between the two governments ahead of the Lee-Bush summit talks at Camp David and was a separate issue from the pause in the U.S. troop cuts.
``As a matter of fact, the U.S. agreed on the pause of the troop reductions during the summit, not the pause of military equipment,'' the source said, asking not to be named. ``In my understanding, the U.S. position is that as long as the USFK maintains slots for 28,500 troops, there is no problem in flexibly rotating its military equipment from Korea to other regions.''
About 500 U.S. engineers of the USFK are also expected to be dispatched to Afghanistan once an Apache battalion is redeployed to the war-ravaged Central Asian nation, he said.
Under a 2004 troop drawdown deal, the USFK was supposed to withdraw some 3,000 troops from South Korea by the year's end to make its troop strength to 25,000, along with about 20 F-16 fighters and one of the two AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter battalions stationed here.
The helicopter battalions are stationed here to prevent North Korean special forces from infiltrating the South. A battalion is comprised of 20 aircraft.
The AH-64 Apache is an all-weather, day-night military attack helicopter and is the U.S. Army's principle attack helicopter.
Its armament include a 30mm M230 Chain Gun, AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and Hydra 70 laser-guided rockets.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
Source
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/116_23424.html
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