Red Herring August 31, 2005
Korea's Bargain Fighter Jet
Don't call it cheap. It's inexpensive. South Korea is selling a new training jet even poor countries can afford.
Call it the Hyundai of the fighter jet world. South Korea’s state-owned aerospace company has unveiled a supersonic combat plane with the hope of dominating the global market for fighter pilot training jets.
Korean Aerospace Industries’ $22-million T-50 targets national air forces that want to replace aging fleets of U.S.-made F-5s and T-38s, reliable workhorses which first took to the skies in the 1960s. Made in partnership with Lockheed Martin, the T-50 fits into a niche that could be worth $12 billion to $14 billion over the next 10 years, said Michel Merluzeau, director of military and commercial airborne systems for Frost & Sullivan.
“It is a very affordable, very capable plane,” said Mr. Merluzeau.
In addition to finding a home in the trainer jet market, the T-50’s close relative, the A-50, could also appeal to nations with small military budgets shopping for so-called light combat planes. Unlike their bigger, badder cousins such as the F-18, light combat planes are not used for air strikes deep inside enemy territory.
They are more frequently positioned near borders as a first line of defense against incursion, or used for air-interdiction, like shooting down a drug smuggler’s Cessna. Mr. Merluzeau cited
Frost & Sullivan estimates the top 15 buyers for light combat and trainer jets will have purchased about 2,400 such aircraft by the end of the decade. The United States will buy the most, with 800 aircraft on order through 2009. India, the second-largest purchaser, is expected to take delivery of 329 French, British, and Russian jets.
India’s history with trainer jets illustrates a challenge KAI faces peddling its new plane to other countries, said John Pike of GlobalsSecurity.org, a weapons industry think tank based in Alexandria, Virginia. India is notorious in military aviation circles for having lost scores of Soviet- and Russian-made MIG-21s during pilot training exercises in the past two decades, said Mr. Pike.
Graduating Too Soon
Eager to save cash, countries graduate pilots from very basic jets to more complex fighters like the MIG-21 or the F-16 too quickly, skipping over an intermediate-level jet like the T-50. Mr. Pike said India’s experience has not deterred cash-strapped countries from the practice.
The storied reliability of Northrop Grumman’s T-38 and F-5 will also pose a challenge to KAI’s marketing plans. While both planes are nearly 40 years old, a $2-million wing and avionics upgrade makes them competitive with the T-50.
Dubbed the Golden Eagle, the T-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 and a 31-foot wingspan. The T-50 program started in 1997. KAI introduced the first prototype in 2001. Mass production of the plane is on track to begin this October. The Republic of Korea’s air force is the first customer, and it is expected to buy 94 T-50s between October and 2007.
© Copyright 2005, Red Herring, Inc.
