Defense Acquisition Program Administration

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA for short) is an executive branch of the South Korean Government. It was established on January 1, 2006 under the Ministry of National Defense for the purpose of administering improvement projects of defense capability, the procurement of munitions, and the fostering of defense industries.

Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee
In order to deliberate upon and coordinate major policies, management of financial resources and other purposes for the promotion of defense acquisition programs, the Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee was placed under the control of the Minister of National Defense. Through the Committee, with the minister of National Defense as chairman, project promotion methods and model decisions are discussed and adjusted and defense capacity improvement projects are implemented.

Major Projects
DAPA manages a variety of defense procurement projects. Examples of current and past projects include:

Aircraft

 * KAI KUH-1 Surion transport utility helicopter
 * KAI T-50 Golden Eagle family of supersonic advanced trainers and multirole light fighters, including the following variants:
 * T-50 (advanced trainer version)
 * TA-50 (lead-in fighter trainer and light attack version)
 * FA-50 (multirole fighter all-weather version)
 * T-50B (aerobatic specialized T-50 version for the ROKAF's aerobatic display team, the Black Eagles)

Vehicles

 * K2 Black Panther main battle tank
 * K9 Thunder self-propelled 155 mm howitzer

Vessels

 * Sejong the Great-class KD-III guided missile destroyer

Other

 * S&T Daewoo K11 DAW assault rifle