The military has saved costs and improved its productivity in equipment maintenance by hiring civilian workers, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said that as part of the military’s plan to increase efficiency in defense management, the Army hired 37 civilian technicians to handle maintenance of 27 armored vehicles this year.

The ministry said the military could save up to 11.7 billion won ($10.5 million) in defense budget this year, and 46.8 billion won until 2014.

The ministry said it plans to bring on board 10 more civilian experts next year to maintain ground-to-air Vulcan cannons, which would save about 2.3 billion won in costs annually. It added it would outsource about 60 management positions in maintenance to the civilian sector starting in 2013.

“By hiring civilians, the military has created jobs, improved its productivity in maintenance and saved its defense budget,” the ministry said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue our plan to bring more efficiency to defense management.” (Yonhap News)