Posted on 11/05/2010 5:11:11 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Seoul seeking to export 500 trainer jets to U.S.
November 03, 2010
Korea is seeking to export as many as 500 supersonic trainer jets to the United States, whose Air Force is considering replacing its aging fleet of trainer aircraft, a government official said yesterday.
The U.S. Air Force is reviewing options on whether to upgrade the aging T-38 trainer jets or replace them with new ones, with a decision expected by 2012, the official said. The official added that a team of U.S. inspectors visited Seoul this year to check the performance of the Korean-built T-50 trainer jets.
“If the U.S. decides to introduce new trainer jets, it would buy 300 to 500 aircraft,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. Air Force is studying the T-50, the M-346 of Italy and the Hawk 128 of Britain as possible candidates to replace its T-38s, according to the official.
Jointly developed by the country’s sole aircraft maker Korea Aerospace Industries and U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, Korea rolled out the T-50 “Golden Eagle” in 2005, making it the world’s 12th supersonic jet producer.
Korea has pushed to export the T-50, but its bids to sell the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates and Singapore failed because its price was high.
Although the T-50, which costs more than 22 billion won ($20 million) per unit, is 10 percent to 20 percent more expensive than rivals, it is the world’s only trainer jet that can fly at Mach 1.5, the official said.
Separately, Korea is pushing to sell the T-50 to Indonesia and Poland.
Yonhap
I guess we really don’t make anything here in the US anymore.
The State Department will block this sale because they’re too dangerous to have in American Hands....
Well they make cars for us ,why not jet planes?\s the crippling of America just keeps on going ,thanks lefties.
And the advantage of having a trainer that can generate a prohibited sonic boom is?
I guess we really don’t make anything here in the US anymore.
Well, we make dollars. The Fed just made six hundred billion of 'em.
Wow, the Kia of the sky will soon be flown by the United States Air Force. How embarrassing.
All DOD purchases should be from U.S. companies especially considering the size of the defense budget. This is just about as insane as procuring 600K Army berets from China!
Use American tax dollars to put Americans to work!
I guess it’s related to costs and also the fact that pilots coming from intermediate training can only be gradually transitioned to supersonic fighters. So most advanced jet trainers since the 60s (barring the US T-38) have been subsonic.
US companies will almost certainly get a majority of workshare for any possible contract.
Besides most non-Russian export aircraft still use considerable US systems. Both the Italian M-346 and Korean T-50 use American engines, so it’s not all one-way traffic.
Exactly. Why do we need a TRAINER that flies at Mach 1.5? Will it carry any weapons so that it can be used for military purposes if necessary?
“Seoul seeking to export 500 trainer jets to U.S.”
What a shame!! To think that the US is considering buying a fleet of military jets from Korea is unbelievable. A nice challenge for the Pubbies in the House...block this deal.How many American jobs would this deal represent?
Umm, Lockheed Martin was involved in designing the T-50 and it’s engine is built by GE. So that’s plenty of American jobs in itself.
If it wins a contract-it will have be built in the US.
With the development of fly by wire and advancement in avionics, airforces can look to cut costs and time by using ideally two systems-one for basic and another for lead-in/advanced training. That would make a supersonic trainer very attractive.
Besides current USAF plans for the F-22 and F-35 envisage only single-seat variants so a supersonic trainer would come in handy.
Both the Yak and M-346 are twin-engined. And the M-346 evolved from a joint Russian-Italian project to develop the Yak-130.
Would be ironic to see the USAF and Russians use the same design for training.
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/BAE_Hawk
...and the 128 involves a bit of scrolling to get down to the 128 as the airplane first flew in 1974
If Korea was smart they would build more tanks and buy every A-10 from the U.S. they could buy and make them on their own (A-10-look-alikes).. and far less Hyundais..
Hyundais are made in Alabama
OK.... Let them make tanks and ship them back to Korea on American ships..
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