Posted on 06/27/2022 3:51:46 AM PDT by FarCenter
Having successfully launched a satellite delivery vehicle earlier last week, South Korea’s indigenous aerospace and arms industry is on a surge. Next on the runway: The KF-21 Boramae (”Falcon”) 4.5-generation fighter is gearing up for take-off.
According to Asia Military Review, citing Kookang Ilbo, the official newspaper of South Korea’s Ministry of Defense, the jet has completed 50% of its overall test program and 95% of all ground testing requirements ahead of its maiden flight, scheduled for July.
The US government defines 4.5-generation aircraft as having advanced capabilities, including active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, high-capacity data links, enhanced avionics and the capability to deploy current and reasonably foreseeable advanced armaments.
...
In a striking 2013 article, Foreign Policy asked whether South Korea may be secretly stealing US military technology, alleging that Korean manufacturers are known for making upgraded knockoffs of US military equipment.
With regards to technology-sharing agreements, the article quoted an unnamed retired former government official who worked in Seoul as saying, “They are very good at taking full advantage of any loopholes with any type of agreement.”
Foreign Policy also noted that these practices could undercut US arms sales and leak sensitive US technologies. Perhaps. But even a cursory visual examination makes clear that the KF-21 is strikingly similar to the US-made F-35.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiatimes.com ...
I didn’t know that the ROK had an aircraft industry.
Actually, no. The US Government agreed to let Lockheed sell a bunch of tech from the F-35A and some of the basic airframe design. However, they withheld certain technology like the stealth skin, the AESA among other critical bits. The Koreans licensed all this aboveboard and with the approval of Congress. Many US figures thought the South Koreans wouldn’t be able to make much more than cobbled together upgrades for their existing fighters out of what they’d bought.
Instead the South Koreans teamed up with the Indonesians and developed all the systems they needed themselves. So what they have is something that might be better than the F-35 (you may wish to note where many of the better electronics designs are coming from these days) with the exception that the KF-21 *currently* lacks the internal weapons carriage bays.
*Currently.*
Indonesia is going to be buying/building these as the F-33.
They have a ship industry, they have an *aerospace* industry, they have a technology industry....
They’ve had the aerospace industry since the 70s, though there was consolidation and the sole survivor was a joint venture that went independent of Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai (who started it.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_Aerospace_Industries
They’re one of those “interesting” countries like Japan that publicly eschew nuclear weapons. But strangely enough they have all the parts to put one together and a delivery system courtesy of their space program...
Japan is considered a ‘six week’ nuclear power, as in they could have a weapon ready to go about six weeks. South Korea is considered a six month to one year (under pressure) nuclear power and 1-3 years if they just wanted to have one.
As to why they shouldn’t have them... North Korea might make off with them if they had any. They still have a sympathizer problem.
Except to GIs, then it's the "Land of the Almost Right"
I used to joke that it was a violation of Korea Law to import a square, level, or plum bob.
Yes, and Japan only makes cheap crappy copies of American products.
Oh wait... that hasn’t been true since the 70s.
Looks sort of familiar...
Yes,I certainly knew that the ROK had a tech industry.My hard drives and SD cards were all made there...as is one of my TVs. However,aerospace surprises me 1) because Korea is a fairly small country and 2) because of the competition with US and European companies.
re: technology
maybe they actually bought it
Much like Israel, they made their own aerospace industry because often the ‘great powers’ decided they didn’t want to sell the South Koreans something they wanted.
Also, they’ve been doing more and more joint ventures with American and European aerospace companies of late - they’re actually bringing their own solutions to the table, not just being the cheap labor department.
I could be wrong here but it seems to me that the ROK should have nukes...their own,not ours
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Then articles like this one, which complain when South Korea shares American technology, should be ignored.
South Korea and Taiwan are the United States’ best allies. In many ways they make better Americans than Americans.
You’d think so, but they actually weren’t selling anything. They were using South Korea as a pawn, as Russia was using North Korea.
Amazing transformation really. I read where Korea only had 50 miles of paved road in the entire country at the start of the Korean War. Now look at it.
My wife left Korea in 1970, I think, or ‘71. I met her in ‘87, and when we went over to visit her family in ‘94 (I had never been there) she kept warning me that things would not be ‘up to US standards. She wanted to take electric razors to some of her family, and was worried about recharging and batteries. She was more surprised about the what we found than I was. We had better internet at anywhere we went than we did at home.
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