Eurofighter To Join S Korean Fighter Battle

photo UK MoD

Mar 14, 2012 By Robert Wall - aerospace daily and defense report

LONDON — The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium will be the only European aircraft maker to do battle against U.S. rivals in the South Korean F-X3 fighter competition.

The Eurofighter campaign will be led by EADS CASA in Spain. The team is hoping South Korea’s interest in finding an industrial partner for the future KF-X program may offset some of the historic U.S. advantage in that country.

Saab does not plan to bid the Gripen in South Korea, and Dassault also has decided it will not pursue the F-X3 program.

South Korea is looking to buy 60 fighters in the latest tranche and plans to begin fielding the first of the aircraft in 2016.

The competition will be a close repeat of the Japanese fighter competition, when Lockheed Martin’s F-35A beat out the Typhoon and the Boeing F/A-18E/F. In South Korea, Boeing is entering the F-15 Silent Eagle, however, rather than the F/A-18E/F.

South Korea has slightly eased some of the F-X3 requirements to open the door to non-stealthy aircraft. South Korea has expressed interest in an active, electronically scanned array radar. Eurofighter industrial partners are working on the technology, but a government-funded upgrade path currently does not exist.

For Eurofighter, after losses in Japan and India, pressure is mounting to secure additional export orders, with a production line shutdown looming around 2017.