S.Korea to buy more F-35As, but picks Embraer C-390s for transport

South Korea has chosen the F-35A by US-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as its stealth aircraft and Brazil-headquartered aerospace company Embraer’s C-390 Millennium as its military transport carrier as part of the country’s project to introduce next-generation fighter jets.

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on Monday announced the decision to bring in 20 more units of the F-35A radar-evading fighters by 2028 as part of the second phase of the country’s Fighter eXperimental (F-X) project, which will cost about 4.26 trillion won ($3.3 billion).

The decision comes after the country already bought 40 F-35A stealth fighters in the first phase of the F-X project, which were fully deployed in January last year.

The stealth fighter is a key military asset of the country’s Kill Chain, part of the South Korea’s Three-Axis system, designed to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.

In a surprise move, the arms procurement agency, however, chose the C-390 Millennium, a military transport aircraft manufactured by Brazilian aircraft company Embraer. It beat the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas.

In the first phase of the F-X project, Seoul picked the US four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft C-130J, which was again expected to be the country’s pick in the second phase.

The country will spend about 710 billion won to buy additional military transport aircraft until 2026, according to DAPA.

THREE-AXIS SYSTEM

South Korea, technically at war with North Korea 70 years after an armistice, has been carrying out the project to replace old fighter jets since 2012 as part of the country’s efforts to build the Three-Axis system.

The system, introduced in response to Pyeongyang’s fifth nuclear test in 2016, aims to defend the country’s territory by developing a Kill Chain to preemptively strike the source of an attack; intercepting the incoming missiles using the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD); and employing the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) campaign to eliminate the adversary’s command-and-control.

As one of the three axes of the system, the purpose of the Kill Chain is to preemptively eliminate North Korea’s military threat before a missile is launched. Stealth aircraft play a key role in the Kill Chain system.

But South Korea lacks reconnaissance capabilities so it is purchasing radar-evading jets from abroad.

The fourth-phase and second-phase plans to mass-produce K21 infantry fighting vehicles and light-armed helicopters (LAH), respectively, were also approved on Monday, according to DAPA.

The K21 infantry fighting vehicle was developed by South Korea’s indigenous technology to replace K200A1 infantry fighting vehicles.

The country is also developing LAHs with its proprietary technology to replace army choppers 500MD and AH-1S, a 5.7-trillion won project that will last until 2031. 

Hanwha Systems Co., a South Korean defense and IT system developer, is developing and providing key components, including a target acquisition designation system (TADS) and an electro-optics system supporting reconnaissance and strike missions, for the country’s LAHs.

Write to Dong-Hyun Kim at 3code@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.