By JUNG SUNG-KI
SEOUL — The South Korean Army will deploy 600 wheeled armored vehicles from 2016 to help build rapid-response forces modeled after U.S. Stryker combat brigades, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The arms agency announced Hyundai Rotem, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, as the preferred bidder Nov. 26 to develop and produce those wheeled armored vehicles. The company beat a consortium of Samsung Techwin and Doosan DST.
“Hyundai Rotem will develop a couple of prototype vehicles with six and eight wheels by 2015 with investment of about 28 billion won ($26 million),” a DAPA spokesman said. “After field tests, the company will produce 600 vehicles in stages by 2020.”
The DAPA and Hyundai Rotem will sign a final contract in December for the wheeled armored vehicle development, said the spokesman.
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