Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE
A proposal to extend licence-production of the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Korean Fighter Programme (KFP) appears to be gaining support, as budgetary pressure grows for the follow-on F-X fighter project to be delayed.
A squeeze on South Korean defence expenditure is forcing the ministry of national defence and Korean air force to consider the purchase of a further batch of Samsung-built F-16C/Ds as a less-expensive alternative to ordering a new fighter type in the short term.
The air force had been planning to select a new aircraft to fulfil its F-X requirement in 1998 and take delivery of the first of an initial batch of 60 fighters in 2002. A second follow-on purchase of 60 F-Xs is provisionally set for 2008, but budgetary restrictions resulting from South Korea's financial difficulties threaten a delay.
There is also some concern in Seoul that few of the new fighters being proposed by competing manufacturers meet the F-X's initial delivery deadline as it now stands, other than the Boeing F-15E and Sukhoi Su-37. The US Government has still not approved a foreign-military-sales version of the Boeing/Lockheed Martin F-22, while the Eurofighter EF2000 and Dassault Rafale face first-delivery delays .
Samsung's purpose-built Sachon plant rolled out the first of 72 licence-built Block 52 F-16C/Ds in July.
Extending the KFP production line with a further 50-60 fighters would also bridge an expected shortfall of work at Sachon in between completion of the last F-16 now on order, and the delivery of the first Samsung/Lockheed Martin KTX-II advanced trainer/light strike aircraft in 2005.
Source: Flight International
