"Fighter KF-X will press the European": the developer on the prospects of the Korean aircraft

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South Korea intends to enter the global fighter jet market with its newest product in this class - the KF-X aircraft, displacing leading players from Europe and the United States.

Progress in aviation at the expense of shipbuilders


Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which is developing the new car, is going to present a prototype of its creation in early 2021. This will be followed by a year of ground and four years of flight tests. It is assumed that the serial production of the fighter will start in 2026. Production armory local production systems should start in 2028.



For testing the aircraft, its own test bench was developed. The localization of the key technologies necessary for the creation of software for the aircraft has already been completed. Similar progress has been made with the AFAR radar, which, as the developer points out, "will prevent the need for external assistance to maintain the aircraft."

At the same time, KAI faced an acute shortage of specialists with skills in the aerospace sector.

We have about 1300 engineers who are involved in the project, but among them there are workers with experience in shipbuilding, not in the aerospace industry.
- said Li Il Woo, chief project engineer. The project is estimated at $ 16 billion. Lee Il Woo pointed out that many specialists are frightened off by the deployment of a design base in Sacheon, located far from the capital of the country, Seoul.


Displacing European planes


Despite this, he sees significant prospects. According to him, from 2030, the aircraft of the past era will begin to be out of order due to their aging. At the same time, it will be difficult for the countries of the Old World to retain customers due to the high cost of their products. The United States has a price advantage, but it prohibits the sale of military products to a number of states.

It is expected that the South Korean fighter will be able to occupy the niche of the F-4 and F-5 aircraft, which are already living out their days.

Our 4,5th generation aircraft is an "extreme machine"
- explained the developer, pointing out the complexity and efficiency of the systems with which the KF-X is equipped.

As Lee points out, successes in creating a fighter will certainly be in demand in the civil aircraft industry, whose products are five times higher than the demand in the defense sector. Moreover, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the global aircraft industry will face a deep restructuring [a hint of the problems of the American Boeing Corporation?]

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    1. 0
      3 November 2020 05: 47
      Yes, it looks like even we will see the sunset of the USA and Europe, everything is changing quickly!
      1. +4
        3 November 2020 06: 04
        Korea Aerospace Industries (Kia)

        KIA wassat
        What about what, and lousy about the bath.
        "Writer" wants to buy a car? laughing

        Maybe KAI? wink
        1. +13
          3 November 2020 06: 53
          Quote: Temples
          What about what, and lousy about the bath.
          "Writer" wants to buy a car?

          Freud Reservation laughing
          1. -1
            3 November 2020 08: 09
            So he corrected the "slip". wink good
    2. +4
      3 November 2020 05: 48
      Koreans - they are distinguished by "intelligence and ingenuity"!
      As well as hard work and discipline.
      Both southern and northern!
      1. +3
        3 November 2020 06: 01
        I do not argue, but the biggest question is what this creation will lift into the air?
        Korea does not have its own engines and is not expected. And how willingly the American comrades will supply the Koreans with motors is still a question.
        1. +5
          3 November 2020 06: 20
          Quote: K-612-O
          I do not argue, but the biggest question is what this creation will lift into the air?
          Korea does not have its own engines and is not expected. And how willingly the American comrades will supply the Koreans with motors is still a question.

          There is no problem with that, the Republic of Korea is one of the closest allies of the United States. In the past, the KAI enterprise carried out a licensed assembly of F-5 and F-16 fighters. Engines, and partly avionics for them, were supplied from the USA.
          1. 0
            3 November 2020 07: 39
            Well, the United States can also prohibit the sale of aircraft with its own engines to "some countries."
      2. The comment was deleted.
    3. +7
      3 November 2020 06: 26
      The fact that the Republic of Kazakhstan creates its own modern aircraft is of course their merit, but who will give them a chance to squeeze the American ones on the arms market? Although the United States calls the Republic of Kazakhstan an ally, when it comes to big money, they include all the possibilities to prevent anyone from squeezing them out on the market.
      1. +13
        3 November 2020 06: 57
        Quote: rotmistr60
        but who will give them to press the American arms market?

        And they do not pretend to move the States from the market:
        The United States has a price advantage, but it prohibits the sale of military products to a number of states

        These states are counting on.
        1. 0
          3 November 2020 07: 06
          From the article
          displacing leading players from Europe and the United States
          1. 0
            3 November 2020 07: 33
            In the video, the Koreans are pushing not Europeans and Americans, but our Dry
    4. -1
      3 November 2020 06: 59
      Another thing surprises me, why there are no "blasters" and "scorchers" on the Korean plane. Dream to the fullest.
    5. -1
      3 November 2020 07: 21
      "In this class, in 4th B, in 6th A" ??? Among light, medium, heavy fighters? ?? Among the aircraft built with the use of low-signature technology (stealth) ???
    6. +3
      3 November 2020 07: 34
      a hint of the problems of the American Boeing corporation?]


      No, a hint that air traffic will recover for several years to a pandemic state. Now everyone has problems not only with Boeing.

      And the Koreans, of course, are great, but they are silent about the price. Even if they can build and test, and then set up mass production, how much will the unit cost? Those who want to replace the F-5 will look towards the Gripen, which also has an afar. So the perspective will be the same as that of the black panther. Cool but expensive.
    7. +1
      3 November 2020 10: 22
      Why copy the geometry of the F-22 if all the weapons are on external sling? After all, all this construction was started just under the theory of invisibility.
    8. 0
      3 November 2020 10: 22
      "An aircraft of the 4th-5th generation" which will finish testing no earlier than 2026 - well, I don't know ..
      In 6 years, there will already be decent 5-generation aircraft in the world, and specifically in Asia (China, the USA, we, perhaps Japan) - if the Koreans make the 4+ generation, then they will not catch up with the functionality of large-scale American or Chinese cars of the 5th generation, and our 4 + or 5 they definitely won't catch up in price - if, again, judging by the cost of Korean military products (such as tanks), the Koreans do not really know how to do it economically and technologically in one bottle.
      So, in my opinion, it will be such a Korean "probe" for internal needs and developments of its own industry for the next 6th generation race.
    9. 0
      3 November 2020 12: 31
      A couple of cons .....
      - admission to the EU market
      - Limited sales in Asia due to US restrictions.
    10. -2
      6 November 2020 16: 25
      Oh, these fairy tales, oh, these storytellers ... cartoons.

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