South Korea's deployment of minesweepers is expected to be delayed by at least a year as their key parts fail to meet the military's requirements, the procurement agency said Friday.
  

Under the 489.2 billion won ($435.6 million) project launched in 2010, South Korea has been pushing to acquire three Minesweeper Hunters for the Navy to better counter threats posed by naval mines. The vessels were supposed to be deployed from August 2015 to 2019.
  

After a four-week inspection of the project, the Defense Acquisition Procurement Agency found that the hull-mounted sonar to be installed on the vessels failed to meet the standards of required operational capability, according to its officials.
  

"We've also learned that the contractor for the towed array sonar does not have the ability to fulfill the deal," a DAPA official said, adding that the agency canceled the contracts with the two companies at the end of last year and has been searching for new contractors.
  

According to the inspection results, the DAPA even received two types of sea-searching equipment, another key part of the 700-ton minesweepers, without checking their test certificates.
  

"Officials in charge received the certificates later but they were found to be forged," another DAPA official said. The fabricated documents left the procurement agency unable to check if the equipment was fit for the ships.
  

The minesweepers were to be put into service starting August this year, but the faulty parts will delay the deployment at least one year, he said.
  

The sub-standard HMS was the same as that to be installed on the country's controversial salvage ship Tongyeong. The component's failure to meet the military's standard prevented the country's first indigenous salvage ship from being delivered to the Navy.
  

The minesweeper case comes as the government has launched a massive inspection into a series of irregularities in the defense industry. In the latest move, prosecutors requested a warrant to arrest the former Navy chief, Hwang Ki-chul, on suspicion of his alleged role in the graft scandal related to Tongyeong. (Yonhap)