Daewoo Heavy Industries has just begun basic design on the fifth prototype of the KTX-1 trainer and is gearing up for the full scale production necessary to meet planned delivery deadlines at the turn of the century.
Duck-Joo Ra, managing director at the company's Aerospace R&D Centre, says the Republic of Korea air force (RoKAF) has "...submitted willingly to the risk of training pilots with elderly aircraft such as the T-37 and T-41", to await arrival of the indigenous trainer.
As the KTX-1 development test and operation test for the third and fourth prototypes, powered by a more powerful 700kW (950hp) Pratt & Whitney PT6A-62 engine, have been completed successfully RoKAF is more confident of acquiring the basic trainer, he adds.
The air force is expected to take around half of a projected 200 aircraft and Daewoo is looking for agents and organisations to market it worldwide.
Source: Flight Daily News
