Republic of Korea AF (ROKAF)

[Ananda]

Just realise that news on ROKAF spread on several thread. So I open this new thread for news and development of South Korean AF.
ROKAF is one of major players in World Air Force, and with development in North Korea, their going to speed up their development.

This article from Jane's, I do believe one of example how ROKAF trying to speed up their development.

South Korea approves plans to acquire more AEW&C and SIGINT platforms

As part of efforts to enhance South Korea’s intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities the country’s Defense Project...

www.janes.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

On 30 June 2020, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) announced it has received a USD 575 million (688 billion-won) contract from the South Korean Ministry of Defense and its Defense Acquisition Program Administration to manufacture twenty TA-50 lead-in fighters for the Republic of South Korea Air Force (RoKAF) by 2024. It seems to be the second order for the TA-50.

More info at: KAI KOREA AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES, LTD.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

For more than 60 years South-Korea is taking defence seriously and has decided now to order 60 F-35 for the airforce and navy EACH!

South Korea to Double Down on F-35 and Procure STOVL Variant for LPX-II - Naval News

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND) has decided in August to double its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. A total of forty additional "Joint Strike Fighters" will be procured, including 20 F-35B short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant for its light aircraft...

www.navalnews.com

 

[ngatimozart]

For more than 60 years South-Korea is taking defence seriously and has decided now to order 60 F-35 for the airforce and navy EACH!

South Korea to Double Down on F-35 and Procure STOVL Variant for LPX-II - Naval News

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense (MND) has decided in August to double its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. A total of forty additional "Joint Strike Fighters" will be procured, including 20 F-35B short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant for its light aircraft...

www.navalnews.com

Not quite. It's a total order of 40 aircraft. 20 of the A variant to bring that number up to 60 in order to meet its requirement to acquire 60 of that variant. The other 20 are of the B variant that will be operated off the future LPX-II which is planned to be operational by 2033. These will be flown by Air Force pilots.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Not quite. It's a total order of 40 aircraft. 20 of the A variant to bring that number up to 60 in order to meet its requirement to acquire 60 of that variant. The other 20 are of the B variant that will be operated off the future LPX-II which is planned to be operational by 2033. These will be flown by Air Force pilots.

Oh, so 40+20 F-35A for the airforce and 20 F-35B for the navy, but airforce pilots will take care of them?

 

[Ananda]

That will be the like in JSDF where JSDAF will fly the B from Izumo and Kaga.

Seems RAF also put in their arguments that RN shouldn't keep combat sq, and put everything within RAF jurisdiction. Well turned out RN still have some Political backing to thwart RAF move.

 

[swerve]

The last time all RN combat aircraft were handed over to the RAF, it's pretty universally agreed that they cocked up badly, leading to the Fleet Air Arm starting WW2 with too few aircraft & many of those few not good enough. The RAF also shamefully neglected Coastal Command, to the detriment of the overall war effort until being forced to change its ways. The RN remembers, & reminds everyone whenever the idea of the RAF having all the aircraft again is raised.

 

[Ananda]

Third Italian F-35B Goes To The Italian Air Force. And the Italian Navy Is Not Happy At All.

Italian Air Force Takes Delivery Of Its First F-35B Lightning II STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing)-model of the Joint Strike Fighter. The Italian

theaviationist.com

Italian Navy and AF seems also having similar arguments as RN and RAF did.
ROK and Japan will buy 20 and 40 B's respectively. Actually it's enough for each of their Navy to build their own fighters squadron.

Their AF will used A's thus actually there are sensible arguments for their Navies to create their own fighters sq's for the B's.
For Japan, I think they're not going to choose it due it's much more politically sensitive issue. Building their own Naval Fighters Sq's means reopen Kaigun Kokutai function. It can be more sensitive than operating Carriers. Opening function of Kaigun Kokutai can be read that JSDNF open for more aggressive stance.

However that's shouldn't be a problem for ROK. Having all B's still in the hand of ROKAF instead ROKN build their own Sq, in my opinion due more to ROKAF arguments.

 

[ngatimozart]

Oh, so 40+20 F-35A for the airforce and 20 F-35B for the navy, but airforce pilots will take care of them?

Yes.

That will be the like in JSDF where JSDAF will fly the B from Izumo and Kaga.

Seems RAF also put in their arguments that RN shouldn't keep combat sq, and put everything within RAF jurisdiction. Well turned out RN still have some Political backing to thwart RAF move.

As @swerve posted, the RN were completely shafted by the Air Ministry and the RAF between WW1 and WW2. They got junk aircraft and paid the price for it until they received US carrier aircraft during WW2. The has rightly said never again. It also didn't help that some of the British aircraft manufacturers were behind the times all the way through, supplying aircraft that were obsolete before they left the drawing board. And some that did have the potential to be excellent were hamstrung by, what now would be called unsound design concepts.

 

[Ananda]

South Korea secures key technologies to develop stealthy, tailless UAVs

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) announced on 7 September that it has secured core technologies to develop low-visibility, tailless unmanned aerial...

www.janes.com

I want to put this on UAS development thread before. However considering this will be used mostly by ROKAF, then decided to put on this thread.

Just shown ROKAF now are going to be a player also on Tailles Drones segment. Well more the merrier.

 

[Ananda]

BEMIL 군사세계

일반에 첫선을 보인다! 적지 종심 침투 공군 특수전기 MC-130K 등 ADEX 2021 야외전시영상

tv.naver.com

ADEX 2021, shown latest ROK Armed Forces assets and future assets. Well they still shown KFX/KF-21 with Indonesian flag. South Korea really want Indonesia still on board.

Something that they are shown quite focus is the armed version of Surion, their mid class helicopters.

Another from Arirang News

 

[swerve]

Yes.

As @swerve posted, the RN were completely shafted by the Air Ministry and the RAF between WW1 and WW2. They got junk aircraft and paid the price for it until they received US carrier aircraft during WW2. The has rightly said never again. It also didn't help that some of the British aircraft manufacturers were behind the times all the way through, supplying aircraft that were obsolete before they left the drawing board. And some that did have the potential to be excellent were hamstrung by, what now would be called unsound design concepts.

Some of those unsound concepts (e.g. the turret fighter) were popular with the RAF & RN - until they were used in action. The Defiant was a thousand Hurricanes we never had, 500 of them in time for the Battle of Britain.

 

[Redlands18]

Some of those unsound concepts (e.g. the turret fighter) were popular with the RAF & RN - until they were used in action. The Defiant was a thousand Hurricanes we never had, 500 of them in time for the Battle of Britain.

Britain has long been the world leader in designing Aircraft Carriers and developing the ways to operate Aircraft off them.
Angled Flight Deck
Mirror Landing System
Steam Catapults
Ski Ramp
Twin Islands
are all British inventions, but developing Aircraft to operate off them has generally been a weak point.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

BEMIL 군사세계

일반에 첫선을 보인다! 적지 종심 침투 공군 특수전기 MC-130K 등 ADEX 2021 야외전시영상

tv.naver.com

ADEX 2021, shown latest ROK Armed Forces assets and future assets. Well they still shown KFX/KF-21 with Indonesian flag. South Korea really want Indonesia still on board.

Something that they are shown quite focus is the armed version of Surion, their mid class helicopters.


Another from Arirang News

Here some photos of the armed version of the Surion. It reminds me of such fake Mi-24 from a Rambo film.
Source:

https://mobile.twitter.com/KimJYeop

Didn't have time to post it yesterday, but the planned upgrade for South-Korea's own FA-50 can make this type of light fighter more attractive for potential export countries.
The upgrade, which is aimed at enhancing both the range and combat capabilities of the platform, is set to include fitting the aircraft with a conformal 300-gallon fuel tank for extended range and integrating the platform with targeting pods and new weapons systems, including beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAMs).

This makes the FA-50 my opinion, very suitable for the Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine airforces.

ADEX 2021: KAI reveals more details about FA-50 upgrade plans

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has revealed more details about the planned upgrade of its FA-50 Fighting Eagle light combat aircraft, 60 examples of which are...

www.janes.com

 

[ngatimozart]

Some more on ADEX 2021 including the KF-21 and more on the FA-50 upgrade.

KAI introduces new defense products at ADEX 2021 exhibition

During the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2021 (ADEX 2021) held at Seoul Airport from the 19th to the 23rd, Korea Aerospace Industries (KA

www.aviacionline.com

 

[MrConservative]

Didn't have time to post it yesterday, but the planned upgrade for South-Korea's own FA-50 can make this type of light fighter more attractive for potential export countries.
The upgrade, which is aimed at enhancing both the range and combat capabilities of the platform, is set to include fitting the aircraft with a conformal 300-gallon fuel tank for extended range and integrating the platform with targeting pods and new weapons systems, including beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAMs).

This makes the FA-50 my opinion, very suitable for the Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine airforces.

Yep. It is an awesome entry level / 2nd tier strike aircraft, but its full potential as a platform has been restricted per lack of a scalable AESA radar like Raytheon's new CAAR or uprating the powerplant with the GE414. However working with Cobhams to develop the A2AR side is another step in the right direction.

Lockheed who has skin in the KAI FA-50 game hopefully will realise that sandbagging the potential of the FA-50 will become commercially counter productive because Boeing are talking up the developmental potential of a combat capable T-7A and they will be more than happy to exploit any holes in the product spectrum. LM has built up quite an order book with new build Viper V's and Viper upgrades, that it might be timely to let KAI off the leash in a product development sense.

 

[swerve]

I recall the TA-50 being shown with a Selex (now Leonardo) AESA radar beside it (the Vixen 500E - suitable for an armed version of the trainer, but also offered in larger & more capable variants such as Vixen 750E which could have suited the FA-50) at a show, but apparently the contract allowed either Lockheed or the US DoD or both to veto non-US sensors, & they did. LM wanted to fit a mechanically-scanned Lockheed Martin radar. The Koreans complained that they were crippling the aircraft, & the Americans allowed the EL/M-2032, which is, apparently (I can't judge) a better mechanically scanned radar, but not an AESA.

That was quite a long time ago, & I think that now that restriction should have been eased, if only because LM realises "that sandbagging the potential of the FA-50 will become commercially counter productive", as you say. I can imagine LM ferociously lobbying for any US DoD restriction to be lifted.

I think the limits on the T/FA-50 are some of the hangovers from US treatment of South Korea as a semi-colony, like the S. Korean armed forces being under US command (lasted an astonishingly long time), limits on S. Korea developing missiles (only just eased, I think), & so on.

 

[MrConservative]

And Swerve I believe that there is a military imperative too in that a number of small-medium countries in the Indo-Pacific will want something not to deal specifically with the high end threats like the J-10 or J-20 but 2nd tier air threats coming from the like of the Guizhou JL-9 and CAC/PAC JF-17 Thunder in numerous numbers.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

This new Night Intruder 500 Vectored Thrust (NI-500VT), which reminds me of those aerial hunter-killers from T3, is really good looking.

And with a size of 4,0 m long and 4,3 m wide, and its VTOL-capability, its also very suitable to operate from naval ships.

KAI and KAL eye RoKA's future division-level reconnaissance UAV programme

South Korean aerospace companies are positioning to meet a potential Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) requirement for a next-generation, division-level reconnaissance and...

www.janes.com

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

I just want to share this video. It's short, but it looks really beautiful.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1527999475004116992