Fuerza Aérea de Corea del Sur

[Plissken_101_AB]

Corea del Sur está interesada en 60 cazas stealth para su despliegue en 2016, los candidatos serían el F-35A o el F-15SE.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110303-266246.html

Seoul accelerates stealth fighter program

South Korea is accelerating moves to purchase a high-end fleet of stealth fighter jets to counter North Korea's asymmetrical threats and keep pace with neighboring countries seeking to secure their own radar-evading combat aircraft.

Under the FX-III acquisition project worth around 10 trillion won (S$11.24 billion), the Seoul government is seeking to purchase some 60 next-generation fighters with an aim to have them delivered for operational deployment to begin in 2016.

The government is expected to draw up an acquisition strategy in the first half of this year, start receiving proposals from bidders early next year and determine which jet it will buy as early as August that year, according to Seoul officials.

As the Defense Ministry failed to secure 15.7 billion won (S$17.7 million), which it wanted to include in this year's budget to get the acquisition work started, in the face of opposition from the National Assembly and budget authorities, it was expected that the military would not be able to start deploying new warplanes in 2016.

However, the Seoul government has recently begun moving faster to secure stealth fighters as calls have persisted for the military to acquire the strategic precision-guided weaponry that can handle asymmetrical threats from the North.

Along with Japan's ongoing efforts to develop its own Advanced Technology Demonstrator-X Shinshin stealth fighter, China's successful test flight on its first stealth jet, the J-20, in January also appears to have prompted Seoul to accelerate its acquisition efforts.

Seoul also believes that the FX-III project should be fast-tracked due to projections that the Air Force may suffer a shortage of fighter jets after the mid-2010s when its aging fighters are due to be decommissioned.

It estimates the Air Force may lack some 100 fighters in the late-2010s. The Air Force believes it needs at least 430 fighter jets of different levels to prepare for possible wartime operations ? some 100 high-end, 200 middle-range and 100 low-end fighters.

The FX-III competition also appears to be in connection with the KF-X project, designed to develop homegrown battle planes that would replace aging F-4 and F-5 fighters.

Observers here say that the Seoul government is likely to see how much a bidder can contribute to the KF-X project in terms of technology transfer during the acquisition process.

Military officials and experts largely agree that stealth fighters should be introduced early as North Korea's provocations continue to destabilize the security environment on the Korean Peninsula.

Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle and Lockheed Martin's F-35 are being considered as the two most likely candidate fighters for the FX-III project.

F-15 Silent Eagle

In March 2009, Boeing first unveiled the two-seat, two-engine F-15 Silent Eagle with a maximum speed of mach 2.5, which has been being developed based on what it calls "combat-proven" F-15 Eagle.

In its promotion of the Silent Eagle, Boeing has focused on the fighter jet's overall survivability, cost-effectiveness and "tactically useful" radar cross section reduction, pointing out that it would still retain the F-15's long-range, large payload capabilities.

Critics here have doubted stealth capabilities of F-15SE, calling it a "semi-stealth jet" ? compared with Lockheed Martin's F-35 ? as it is being developed on the basis of the non-stealth concept of the fourth-generation fighter jet.

Boeing refused to reveal the level of the RCS reduction on the F-15SE as it is classified information while stressing that it is ready to provide a reasonable level of the RCS reduction that could meet South Korea's requirements. RCS is a measure of how detectable an object is with radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected.

It, however, remains confident that overall, the F-15SE can offer a good solution for South Korea's Air Force, citing a series of factors including its interoperability with the existing F-15K fighter jets run by South Korea's Air Force.

"With a balanced approach to survivability, the F-15SE takes a low risk, cost effective approach to securing the national interest of our customers with advanced AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, an advanced electronic warfare system, tactfully useful radar cross section reduction," Brad Jones, director of Boeing's F-15 Development Programs, told The Korea Herald.

Jones pointed out that one of the most important attributes of the F-15SE is "mission flexibility" which ensures the cost effectiveness of the fighter jet.

"Being able to perform air superiority, air-to-ground, deep penetration, maritime and remote island defense missions with a single platform provides a nation with the most cost effective solution to protect their national security," he said.

"If you include the fact the F-15SE is more than 85 per cent common with the existing F-15K Slam Eagle fleet, Korea will be able to greatly reduce their operational and support cost over the projected 30 year service life. No one else in the world can offer such a cost effective solution with this type of proven, superior operational capability."

To a question of whether it can meet Korea's anticipated delivery timeline, Jones said, "Boeing is committed to providing an operational capable F-15 Silent Eagle to the Republic of Korea when they need it for their force structure needs."

Boeing explains that for a mission that requires a stealth capability, the F-15SE could carry a 2,700-pound internal payload for 800 nautical miles in an air-to-ground configuration or 720 nautical miles in an air-to-air configuration.

Its conformal weapons bay could accommodate various mixtures of weapons systems ? two Sidewinder missiles and two Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles; or four AMRAAMs; or an air-to-air and air-to-ground mix of two AMRAAMs and two 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs; or eight 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs.

If a mission did not require stealth, the F-15 Silent Eagle could be reconfigured for missions that required more payloads over a longer mission range. Removing the weapons bays would enable F-15SE to have a 29,500-pound payload for missions in the 1,000-nautical mile range in an air-to-ground configuration and 900 nautical miles in an air-to-air configuration.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II

A set of issues over rising costs and delays in the development of the F-35 fighter jet has apparently sapped confidence in the massive multinational program for the new radar-evading fighter that involve nine countries including the U.S.

Struggling to overcome such challenges, Lockheed Martin, which is spearheading the F-35 project, has been highlighting the fighter's stealth capability that is believed to be better than those of other competitors.

Randy Howard, Lockheed Martin's director of Korea F-35 Campaign, stressed that the F-35 is the "only true, all-aspect stealthy fifth-generation" fighter available on the international market while categorizing the F-15SE as a forth-generation jet.

"The F-35 redefines multi-role fighter aircraft performance and provides a quantum leap in capability over the fourth generation aircraft including the F-15SE which is based upon a design that dates to 1968," he told The Korea Herald.

"True stealth must be designed from the ground up. It cannot be retrofitted. The F-35 achieves its Very Low Observable performance through its fundamental design, its external shape, and its state of the art manufacturing processes which control tolerances to less than half the diameter of a human hair."

The F-35 has been co-developed with eight foreign partners ? Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway ? since 2001. The U.S., along with the eight countries, has invested some $50 billion for the F-35 project.

The single-seat, single-engine F-35 jet with a maximum speed of mach 1.8 has three different variants.

The conventional takeoff and landing F-35A is for air force operations, while the F-35B is the Marine Corps' short take-off and vertical landing variant and the F-35C is the Navy's carrier based version.

While the development of the two variants has been properly proceeding, the Marine Corps' variant is experiencing significant testing problems stemming from software development issues, according to reports.

Given their budget constraints, the growing price of the F-35 is also burdensome for many countries. It is widely believed that the price of the F-35 per unit may double the original price of about $50 million (S$63.5 million) ? set in 2001.

Criticism has surfaced here that the increase of the per-unit price runs counter to the development purpose of the F-35 ? producing a less costly stealth fighter for overseas customers as the F-22 Raptor, the top U.S. air superiority fighter, is barred by law from export until 2015 to protect its stealth technology.

Other than the price issues, another concern here is whether South Korea can acquire it at a time it needs the fighter since it is not part of the multinational JSF project.

Howard said that the F-35A will be available to South Korea with deliveries beginning in 2016, noting that F-35A's System Development and Demonstration program, which includes developmental flight tests, is scheduled to complete in early 2016.

Regarding the increasing development costs, Howard said that as production quantities continue to increase, the production price will subsequently decrease.

"Cost increases to date have been predominantly associated with the development phase of the program. The U.S. government has borne the entire financial responsibility of these developmental cost increases and has not passed them along to participating countries," he said.

"As production quantities continue to increase, the recurring production price will continue down that cost curve. Lockheed Martin expects the average unit recurring cost of an F-35A to be approximately $65 million in 2010 year economics."

Howard also claimed that all issues with the development of the F-35 have proven to be "solvable."

"The fundamental design and the software are sound ? there are no technical limitations," he said.

-The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

[Iris]

Frente a la oferta de Boeing
EADS-Cassidian pide ayuda a España para la venta de Eurofighters a Corea del Sur

22/03/2011

(Infodefensa.com) Madrid – EADS Cassidian ha pedido ayuda al gobierno español, y concretamente a la ministra de Exteriores, Trinidad Jiménez, para cerrar la venta de cazabombarderos Eurofighter a Corea del Sur, frente a la oferta de Boeing.

Tras el reciente anuncio del país asiático sobre la aceleración del proceso de adquisición de 30 nuevos aviones de combate, la compañía ha pedido a la responsable de Exteriores que incluya a Corea del Sur en su agenda, ya que existe cierta intranquilidad por las presiones de Washington, según informa El Confidencial Digital.

La empresa estadounidense Boeing tiene abiertos varios mercados para la comercialización de su avión F-35 y está intentando que la Casa Blanca apoye la venta de sus cazas.

Para el consorcio Eurofighter, el acuerdo con Corea supondría una importante carga de trabajo para la factoría de Getafe (Madrid), además de los 2.500 millones de euros en los que está tasada la operación, por lo que es fundamental cerrar el contrato cuanto antes.

En este sentido, Cassidian ha recogido el testigo ofrecido por Trinidad Jiménez a principios de año, cuando se ofreció como enlace comercial para impulsar los negocios de las empresas españolas en el extranjero aprovechando sus visitas diplomáticas, en el marco de lo que ella misma definió como “diplomacia económica”.

Por el momento, la ministra no tiene en su agenda ninguna visita a Corea del Sur, pero es muy posible que se incluya en el programa de su primera gira por Asia, prevista para los próximos meses.

Acuerdo de formación de pilotos

Otro punto importante del potencial contrato con Corea del Sur es la formación de los pilotos del caza en España. El Ejército del Aire ya negoció con representantes coreanos, a finales de 2010, la posibilidad de aportar la base de Morón de la Frontera como zona de entrenamiento si finalmente se materializaba la venta.

Además, como ya informó Infodefensa.com, a principios de este mes, y coincidiendo con una visita al país del secretario de Estado de Defensa, Constantino Méndez, representantes del Ministerio de Defensa surcoreano y del Ejército del Aire español firmaron una declaración de intenciones para estudiar una futura cooperación en el entrenamiento de pilotos. (

Aunque dicha cooperación podría referirse a la posible entrega a España de modelos de entrenamiento surcoreanos como el T-50, un avión supersónico que entró en servicio en 2005, el acuerdo podría ser relevante en la negociación de la venta de los Eurofighter.

http://www.infodefensa.com/?noticia=ead ... ea-del-sur

.- Saludos.

[Bomber@]

La empresa estadounidense Boeing tiene abiertos varios mercados para la comercialización de su avión F-35

Sólo puntualizar que Boeing oferta el F-15 SE a Korea. Los F-35 son de LM (que participó en el desarrollo del T-50).

Respecto la noticia: opino que a Corea del Sur le irían muy bien los Typhoon para un enfrentamiento contra su vecino del norte (gran avión preparado para operar en pistas no demasiado largas y frente a un enemigo que está a un tiro de piedra).

De todas formas: En mi opinión es muy difícil que Corea del Sur no compre material useño (por política).

[Experten]

De todas formas: En mi opinión es muy difícil que Corea del Sur no compre material useño (por política).

No creo que se atribuya todo a la relación política bilateral entre EEUU y ROK, mucho tiene que ver con la cooperación industrial entre ambos países, realmente los lazos en este renglón son muy amplios.

[maximo]

No obstante, los coreanos no quedaron precisamente contentos con su ultima partida de F-15. Sumemosle que la presion de Obama no es tan fuerte como otrora, que Corea quiere expandir (y lo necesita) sus productos por Europa y que la entrega de F-35 es una incognita...

[Experten]

Si bien no todo es miel sobre ojuelas en la relación, personalmente no veo como factores de peso las razones que citas... porque las cosas van mucho mas allá de los cazas, recordemos que hay un entrenador desarrollado en conjunto con Lockheed, recordemos que también se entregarán AWACS fabricados por Boeing a pesar de todas las quejas con respecto al FX-2, KAI produce componentes importantes para Boeing... incluso podríamos estar hablando de la potencial compra de tanqueros KC-767 dentro de unos años.

Francamente esa relación industrial es en extremo importante y excluir a Europa en ese sentido, por lo menos a medio plazo, todavía resulta muy coveniente.

[maximo]

hay un entrenador desarrollado en conjunto con Lockheed,

Que quieren vendernos a nosotros.

KAI produce componentes importantes para Boeing...

Todo el mundo produce componentes importantes para Boeing. Y si excarbamos, seguro que tambien los fabrican para Airbus.

Los coreanos no pueden seguir siempre en esa posicion de subordinacion.

[SAAB]

Se llama TA50. Me gusta bastante para sustituir a F-5B dentro de 10 años y a los C-101 a corto plazo.

Una buena contraprestacion: TA-50 a cambio de EF-2000.

Un Saludo.

[Mauricio]

Primer pedido de la versión de caza F/A-50.

Seoul places $600m order for 20 FA-50s 

By Greg Waldron
Singapore 11:00 4 Jan 2012

South Korea has placed a $600 million order with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for 20 examples of the FA-50 attack variant of the T-50 advanced jet trainer.

KAI said that under the deal it will deliver the aircraft from 2013 to 2014. Seoul could acquire a total of 60 to 150 FA-50s to replace its fleet of more than 150 Northrop F-5s.

The FA-50 is the most advanced variant of the T-50. It will have the Link 16 tactical data link, as well as an Elta Systems EL/M-2032 pulse doppler radar.

Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have said the FA-50 is a candidate for their respective active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars developed for the Lockheed Martin F-16. If the FA-50 does get an AESA radar, it is likely to be the same one chosen for the eventual F-16 radar upgrade for the US Air Force and Republic of Korea Air Force.

The FA-50 also has a radar warning recover and a night vision imaging system. It is capable of carrying 4,500kg (9,920lb) of weapons, including the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition and Textron CBU-97 Sensor Fused Weapon. Like the TA-50, it also has a 20mm cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles.

Aside from the original T-50 and FA-50, KAI has also produced the T-50B enhanced manoeuvrability aerobatic variant and armed TA-50. All of these are powered by a single General Electric F404 engine.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... 0s-366500/

[Gaspacher]

Nuevo intento de exportar el EF a Corea del Sur

Cassidian España presenta el Eurofighter al programa de aviones de combate de Corea del Sur

[ecuatoriano]

Una parodia de Los Miserables interpretada por el Ala de combate 22 de la fuerza aérea de Corea del Sur.

[ecuatoriano]

Wow:

[Andrés Eduardo González]

Y así "mini-líder" se atreve a torear a estos...

Que levantada que le van a pegar los de Corea del Sur...

[Jon_FMG]

Leyendo sobre el Golden Eagle, parece que es el verdadero sucesor de aviones de la categoría del AMX.

[Agente Naranja]

Ciertamente es un avión muy prometedor y todo un hit para la industria aeroespacial coreana!