S. Korea’s New Stealth Fighter Design

22.10.2011 by John Reed DEFENSETECH

Check out these pictures that Steve Trimble snapped of the latest stealth fighter design to hit the international market. They pics show Korean Aircraft Industries’ proposed stealthy next-gen fighter that was unveiled at the Seoul Air Show this week. South Korea plans to field the plane, dubbed KF-X, in the next nine years as a replacement for it’s Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom IIs and F-5E Tiger IIs. Going from fighters that first flew in the late 1950s and 1960s to a stealthy design resembling a twin-engine F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as Trimble puts it, is quite the leap. In addition to KAI, Eurofighter is also bidding a design for KF-X. In an example of how stealth fighters will be all over the place by the 2020s, Indonesia is already a partner in the program and F-35-buyer Turkey may join the KF-X effort soon.  Seoul wants the KF-X to carry locally developed air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and anti-ship missiles. That’s right, a new fleet of stealth jets with new weapons in just nine years.

Keep in mind that South Korea is also looking at buying 40 to 60 Sukhoi PAK FAs, F-35s or F-15SE Silent Eagles under its F-X program which is supposed to kick off next year.

Click here for more info on the jet.