KFX Concept: This internet source image is one configuration under consideration for South Korea�s KFX 4.5 to 5th generation combat aircraft. Source: Internet
Posted on 01/27/2008 9:49:17 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Fighter Development Program Faces Crash
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea is likely to scrap an ambitious project to build its own version of a stealth fighter as it has been assessed as nonviable economically and technically, military sources said Sunday.
The fighter development program, codenamed KF-X, aims to produce a multi-role fifth-generation aircraft suited to network-centric warfare after 2020 to replace outdated F-4Es and F-5Es and to market it globally.
The Korea Development Institute (KDI) concluded last month that the KF-X program would not be affordable, according to the sources.
The KF-X development would cost at least $10 billion but bring about only $3 billion in economic benefits, making the economics of the aircraft unsustainable, said the sources, citing a KDI report over the KF-X's economic feasibility mandated by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The KDI is updating its report to make it public by March, they said.
DAPA officials said, however, the debates on the fate of the KF-X program are still under way, as some argue the fighter development should go on despite its low economic feasibility, to acquire key aircraft technology through joint research and development with foreign partners.
``The KDI report is just a tiny part of decision-making on the KF-X program,'' a DAPA official said. ``A final conclusion on the fate of the KF-X will be made after DAPA reviews all aspects of the program.''
Analysts have questioned the program's affordability, as well as its overlap with the third phase of the existing F-X fighter acquisition program that is eying the stealth F-35 of the U.S. Lockheed Martin.
``To be honest, it is very difficult to predict the fate of the KF-X program, as there are lots of question marks as to the level of technology, gestation period, development costs and so on,'' said Lee Ju-hyung, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses' Center for Weapon System Studies.
``I just want to remind you that the foremost purpose of the program is acquiring state-of-the-art aircraft technology through joint research and cooperation with foreign countries,'' he said.
Last November, the state-funded Agency for Defense Development (ADD) unveiled a plan to develop the KF-X fighter in partnership with Western aircraft makers.
The agency said it wanted foreign firms to foot 30 percent of development costs and was considering forming separate consortiums between domestic and foreign companies on a case-by-case basis.
Several foreign defense firms such as Lockheed, Boeing and General Electric of the United States, Saab of Sweden, and Safran of France were studying the feasibility of the KF-X, focusing on possible technology transfer and the potential market for the aircraft, according to ADD officials.
The KFX would be stealthier than either Dassault's Rafale or Eurofighter's Typhoon but not as stealthy as the Lockheed Martin-built F-35, ADD officials said.
The fighter would be designed as a single-seat, twin-engine aircraft with a total thrust of more than 40,000 pounds, they said.
Armaments would include indigenous high-tech weapon systems such as precision-guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, the officials said. Core technology, including aircraft system integration, avionics, fly-by-wire systems and stealth capabilities, would be obtained from partner companies via offset trading or domestic research and development, they said.
Seoul intends to acquire 120 advanced warplanes under its F-X program.
In 2002, Boeing's F-15K Eagle was selected for the 40-plane, $4.2 billion first phase of the F-X fighter modernization program. The firm is in final price negotiations with the DAPA over the 20-plane, $2.4 billion second phase of F-X.
Seoul plans to open bidding in 2011 and acquire 60 fifth-generation stealth jets under a $5.4 billion program, aiming to deploy the planes between 2014 and 2019, according to an Air Force report submitted to the National Assembly last year.
The F-35 is regarded as the viable candidate for the third phase of the F-X program because the only other stealth fighter in the world, the F-22 Raptor, also built by Lockheed, may be out of Seoul's reach financially and legally. U.S. law forbids the export of the F-22, while the F-35 was developed specifically for export.
allantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
KFX Concept: This internet source image is one configuration under consideration for South Korea�s KFX 4.5 to 5th generation combat aircraft. Source: Internet
Stealthy with external stores?
That thing would show up on radar with no problem.
Small wonder. Aircraft development has become so costly that only a few first-world countries or consortiums can afford it. Current aircraft are wonders of technology, but they cost an arm and a leg to develop, and are affordable only with a production run in the hundreds. South Korea would be far better off for defense purposes jumping on the F-35 bandwagon.
TC
Being a partner on the F-35 would be much, much cheaper in any event. I can’t think of a smaller country besides the Swedes that have built a modern combat aircraft (without a consortium) in the last 30 years.
It looks more like they just bred a F-22 with a F-16 and added a few mutations! :-)
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