Competitiveness of RoK-U.S. Major Arms Systems and Joint Development Strategy

The Donald Trump administration is expected to continue increasing the U.S. defense budget during its term in order to implement one of the president’s campaign pledges: modernizing the U.S. military. Congress has passed a 717 billion USD defense budget with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of FY2019 last year. With it, the United States hopes to continue its Third Offset Strategy and accelerate the development of advanced weapons. Meanwhile, the Korean defense industry is shifting its defense policy from domestic demand to the export market. One of the reasons is that the progress of inter-Korean peace negotiations has reduced the main threat. Following the year 2018, efforts for peace are expected to continue not only in North Korea-U.S. relations but also between the two Koreas. Korean president Moon Jae-in announced the promotion of export industrialization and international joint development initiatives, as part of a broader strategy regarding the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) in both the Military Reform Plan 2.0 (in March 2018) and the Comprehensive Plan for Defense Reform (in August 2018). Under these circumstances, it’s necessary to craft a joint ROK-U.S. development strategy for major arms systems. As allies sealed in blood, Korea and the U.S. need to pursue joint development not only of defense technologies but of major arms systems for mutual benefit in the future.