Forbes believes that South Korea’s home-made KF-X fighter may have a stronger impact on the Chinese Communist Party than the F-35. Pictured is an F-35B undergoing testing.
South Korea’s first homemade KF-X prototype was unveiled last week. Forbes, a well-known business magazine, pointed out on the 13th that although the combat power of this type of aircraft is not as strong as the U.S.-made F-35, but its relatively cheap price and the advantages of the machine sensitive technology transfer rules are more lenient than those of the U.S., which may attract many Southeast Asian countries that are worried about the Chinese Communist Party’s activities in the South China Sea but are shy in their nguyen bags, and the impact on the Chinese Communist Party may be stronger than that of the F-35. The impact on the CCP may be stronger than that of the F-35.
According to Forbes, although the KF-X can only mount external weapons, and its ability to hide is not as good as the U.S.-made F-22, F-35 and other fifth-generation aircraft; its homemade avionics system may not be as good as the experienced European and American companies, but in exchange for a number of advantages, but the F-35 can not be compared.
The KF-X has been able to significantly reduce program risk and cost thanks to its traditional armed external design and the Kiwi (GE) F414 engine of the same family as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. South Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) previously pointed out that the KF-X single-engine price is expected to be set at $65 million (about NT $1.84 billion), lower than the F-35’s current $80 million to $110 million (about NT $2.26 billion to $3.1 billion), and the follow-up maintenance costs are lower.
Although the engine is still supplied by the U.S., the KF-X’s mission management system, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and other key avionics systems are developed by South Korea independently or jointly with other countries; and South Korea is often willing to provide technology transfer in arms exports, representing a higher chance of getting an export license for the KF-X for countries that were originally unable to obtain advanced U.S. warplanes due to technical secrecy issues.
In addition, the KF-X’s development progress is ahead of Europe, Japan, India, Turkey, and other countries’ anonymity fighter programs. Although its positioning and capabilities are far from the same, countries that are in dire need of combat power and cannot buy the F-35 may also procure the KF-X first as a transitional aircraft.
Combining these advantages, analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aerospace consulting firm, believes that the KF-X is expected to be the most flexible product in the global fighter market. And in addition to Indonesia, which is already one of the contributors to the KF-X program, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other old customers of South Korean arms exports are also in dispute with the Chinese Communist Party; therefore, analysts believe that the KF-X, which may become the raw power of the above-mentioned countries, will perhaps have a stronger impact on the Chinese Communist Party than the F-35.
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