Posted on 01/07/2006 6:07:26 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
The South Korean air force (ROKAF) formally accepted the first two production Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced jet trainers this week in a hand-over ceremony in at the manufacturer's Sacheon facilities.
KAI T-50 TNThe ROKAF became the first customer for the T-50, manufactured by KAI with development assistance from Lockheed Martin, with an order for 25 T-50s in December 2003. The T-50 made its public début at the Seoul air show in October has been undergoing flight tests during the final quarter of 2005.
The South Korean defence procurement agency now has orders for 50 T-50 trainers and 44 A-50 light attack aircraft (split between lead-in fighter trainers and close-air support configurations) with options for up to 200 fighter variants from 2007-2012 to replace the country's Northrop F-5 Tiger fleet.
KAI is now working with suppliers to work out a baseline model price for the export model, which Lockheed Martin will help market. Greece, Israel, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are considered the best short-term prospects.
My brother in law just bought a KIA SUV, trading in a GM Blazer.
Sigh.
And he's a Camaro gearhead-Two 69's, the big block runs high 10's , no gas.
He agonized over the decision.
I have to admit as someone who has owned nothing but GM products, (I've got a 69 Z/28 myself, and my 95 Chevy pickup has 168,000 miles on it-no problems) the KIA was impressive. Lots of sensible features, sound design, absolutley astounding fit and finish, and a 10year 100,000 mile warranty.
The only wildcard was the strength of the dealer network and cost of replacement parts.
Another buddy has a VW Jetta, and the Headlight assembly is Dealer-only and costs $2400.
Kia.........KAI......are they one and the same company?
Nice upgraded T-38 / F-16 7/8ths scale variant.
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/t-50/
http://www.deagel.com/pandora/t-50-golden-eagle_pm00081001.aspx
After reading their annual report, it would appear that they are NOT the same company.
But also, the ownership/backing of the aerospace KIA is unclear. If the auto KIA is involved, it is not explicitly called out in their annual report.
Sorry, my mistake
More coffee.
Raptor Food
LOL that would be good old F-16 food no need for a raptor here. :)
If they can build jet fighter to compete on the export market, they can fully defend themselves.
Cute little thing!
Kia and Kai could be under one roof.
More like chicks for the Raptor to protect.
They should be a great replacement for the F-5Es and a nice advanced trainer for the pilots who will be flying the F-15Ks.
Nothing is dealer only if you have a good junk yard nearby. :-)
Of course, stuff gets harder to find as the cars get newer, since newer cars don't get junked as often.
Back to the point of this thread, don't know anything about the aircraft's capabilities, but man, that paint job is sweet.
"If they can build a jet fighter to compete on the export market,they can fully defend themselves."Good point.BTW their army,while numerically smaller than NK's is technologically superior to NK(armor,artillery,etc).Bottom line is that we're shelling out money to defend a country that is quite capable of providing it's own defence.That's especially relevant considering a lot of SK's are unhappy with our continued presence in their country.Ditto for Germany.
Screw Germany. They bought into the EU and prefer Russia as an ally over us. They will get what they deserve.
SK has been a staunch ally. The only reason there is no war there is because of our 35k troops. We pull them and NK marches in the next day. And they will.
"Cute little thing!"
Yeah, looks like it would make a nice target.
SK has been a staunch ally.Yes that's true for the generation that remembers the Korean war,but the times are a changin my friend.
Well that blow is mitigated by the 10yr 100,000 mile warranty.
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