[raspirator]

June 13, 2012 | Chosun Ilbo (English Edition)

Korean and U.S. military officers earlier this year investigated suspicions by the U.S. government
that Korea illegally disassembled F-15K fighter jet equipment for low-altitude night penetration attacks.

An official with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Monday said the chief of the U.S.
Defense Technology Security Administration raised suspicions in a meeting with a senior DAPA official in
early June that Korea illegally disassembled the Tiger Eye, a key component of the cutting-edge U.S.-made
fighter jets. The U.S. suspects this was done to steal the technology, since Korea is an aspiring player in
the global arms market.

The Tiger Eye is a device installed under the F-15K's fuselage that helps the jet fly at a low altitude to
avoid detection by enemy radar systems and launch precision attacks with precision-guided munitions at
night and in bad weather. It consists of navigation systems and targeting pod devices.



The KF-16, which Korea procured before the F-15K, has a similar system called "LANTIRN." But Tiger Eye
is much more advanced, and the U.S. is reluctant to transfer the technology. It therefore seals the box
before it exports the device to other countries, and the contract stipulates that it cannot be disassembled.

But the U.S. said one box which the Air Force had sent to the U.S. for maintenance and repair showed
evidence of the seal having been broken, illegally disassembled and put back together again, according to
a source.

Korea has a history of disassembling U.S.-made weapons in the 1980s and using what it learned to develop
its own weapons.