South Korea is reported to have completed the first AESA radar to be tested on the KF-X fighter. The radar will be delivered to the customer next month for further integration testing.
Press reports from the country says the radar was tested in Israel and earned praise from the Israelis for its performance. It has been reported that Elta was the company assisting the South Koreans.
The KFX AESA Radar, the fighter eye, is the active electronically scanned array multi-functional radar and is mounted in the KF-X, the next generation fighter developed in the nation. It is the key avionics sensor of the future fighter performing the various missions on the search, track, and image shooting of the air and surface targets.
About KFX Programme
Indonesian Aerospace began a second partner in the program alongside KAI in 2010. The Korean side held 80 percent of the shares in the program while Indonesia, with its lower defense expenditure, less advanced military industrial base and smaller planned purchases, held the remaining 20 percent.
The KF-X was to be a light single seat twin engine jet with advanced stealth capabilities, and would prioritize a low operational cost and ease of maintenance which would allow South Korea’s Air Force to field it in large numbers. This would also be key to successfully marketing the jet for export, with Southeast Asian in particular notably prizing then F-50 for precisely this reason. South Korea’s fighter fleet is among the largest in the world today, and with much of the fleet fast ageing there is room to induct several hundred KF-X jets into service. This is key to ensuring a considerable scale of production and a cost-effective final product.
Beyond acquisitions for its own Air Force, the KF-X is expected to be marketed for export with Southeast Asian nations in particular expected to be leading clients. Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and possibly even Iraq could be leading clients for the fighter, with all of these operating the F-50 and either the F-16 or the F-5 which the KF-X was designed to replace.
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