You're an idiot.

F-15Ks are not good anymore?

You guys should know F-16s & F-15s are still very versatile and useful multi-role fighter/bomber/interceptor. Not 2 mention they have good track records.

F-16, no one wants to buy it anymore, so they(US) are desperate to sell them to many countries. F-15 has problems, many's planes frame is braking in half, heard of this?

F-35 is still better than F-15. SU-30mk which are used in indian air force had exercises against american air force which were using f-15's. Indian air forces scored 10:1, which was shocking to American air force administration.

F-15Ks are not good anymore?

You guys should know F-16s & F-15s are still very versatile and useful multi-role fighter/bomber/interceptor. Not 2 mention they have good track records.

The only solution to deal with J-10 from China!!

F-16, no one wants to buy it anymore, so they(US) are desperate to sell them to many countries. F-15 has problems, many's planes frame is braking in half, heard of this?
F-35 is still better than F-15. SU-30mk which are used in indian air force had exercises against american air force which were using f-15's. Indian air forces scored 10:1, which was shocking to American air force administration.

A little off-topic, but wondering about opinions...

Insider information that ROK will be purchasing a fleet of Aw101's helicopters this summer? For multi-role, Airborne Mine Counter-Measures? Would be cool that us Europeans finally got our foot in the door out-doing those skanky Sikorsky crap-heaps they buy! (although they already did wisely chose several AW Super-Lynx )

My Korean friends,

When the going gets tough will the European chocolate makers stand by your side prepared to pay the ultimate price? If the answer is yes, then by all means buy European equipment that has not been tested in battle. If the answer is no, don't backstab the only friends you have when it counts. Europe doesn't have your back. America does.

ahahahyayayaayayajaja

i hit a nerve.... :S they should cancel those F-15's and buy some Eurofighters kikiki

its not back-stabbing....korea just made a wise investment....why buy a 1990's dodge when you can have 2008 BMW?

''America has your back''? America is the only country to give a crap about korea? I guess you believe the korean war was fought only by america?
America is ON your back, not protecting it. As part of the Armistice agreement, the UK & America were to keep military presence in ROK. The uk currently has 2 Militray attaches and one staff seargent. America has several thousand unecessary troops. nice nice. who is the most sensible now? who ran into Afganistan then left it to the sensible people to clean up? who has more respect/less problems/more control....the UK in Afganistan...or the US in Iraq?

and as a conclusion....our chocolate is absolutely AMAZING!! so its not an insult....unless u suggest that is all we are good at?

Let's make one thing certain. Under NO circumstance would the ROK military or the government be inclined to BRIBE the US with weapon purchases, or show its appreciation in the matter of national defense. Yes there is political sides to consider to every defense deals. However, even in such cases, a logical reasoning was present. The F-15K during the FX competition had many great merits of its own over the Eurofighter or the Rafale, but the fact that it was compatible with US logistics in the Pacific in terms of weapons, network and many spare parts also had a great influence. There is absolutely no reason why ROK would have to choose US product when it is inferior and does not offer much in other areas such as pricing, tech-transfer and support.

We will buy American when the support and the capability meets our needs. We will buy European when it is more suitable. However, it would serve US firms well to not be so arrogant in their approach when negociating with ROK in our defense product purchases. In the recent years, US firms have lost several key defense deals in South Korea to their European and Israeli counterparts. Swedish firm won over Raytheon in the recent counter-battery radar deal because the Swedes called lower-then-expected pricing ad promised technology transfer. In this case, a superior American product lost because they prematurely called higher prices and refused tech-transfer. If that's going to happen, what chance would an inferior American product have?

In the matter of mine-countermeasure helicopter, the navy is pushing strongly for the EH-101. However, you must recognize that this is a very exensive product, and with the Euro being where it is.... It is going to be very difficult for navy to win that kind of budget when the current focus is elsewhere. At the moment, the HH-60 configured to mine-countermeasure helicopter seems to be the favored condidate with SH-92 running second. HH-60 little is too small for the job, but there has been some advancements in the area, allowing miniturization and lightening of the system.

S. Korea May Drop Stealth Fighter Development Plan

South Korea is likely to drop a plan to build its own version of a multi-role stealth fighter in partnership with Western aircraft makers, as the program has been assessed as nonviable both economically and technically, a military source here said.

The Korea Development Institute (KDI), a private economic policy think tank, concluded last month that the fighter development program, codenamed KF-X, would not be affordable based on a months-long study on the economic feasibility of the program, the source said.

The KF-X development would cost at least $10 billion but bring about only $3 billion in economic benefits, making the economics of the aircraft unsustainable, said the source, citing a KDI report commissioned by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the country’s arms procurement agency.

The study result was reported to the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, he said.

The DAPA asked the KDI to update the report to make it public by March, he added.

DAPA officials, however, said the fate of the KF-X project has not been decided yet, citing arguments by some defense officials and analysts that the KF-X should go on despite its low economic feasibility, to further develop indigenous aircraft technology through joint research and development with foreign partners.

“The KDI report is just a tiny part of decision-making on the KF-X program,â€� Cmdr. Park Sung-soo of DAPA’s public affairs office said. “A final conclusion on the fate of the KF-X will be made after DAPA reviews all aspects of the program.â€�

The KF-X aims to produce a fifth-generation warplane suited to network-centric warfare after 2020 to replace outdated F-4Es and F-5Es and to market it globally.

Last November, the state-run Agency for Defense Development unveiled a plan to develop the KF-X fighter in cooperation with Western countries.
The agency said it wanted foreign firms to foot 30 percent of development costs and was considering forming separate consortiums between domestic and foreign companies on a case-by-case basis

Several foreign defense firms, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Electric, Saab and Safran, expressed their interest in the KF-X program, focusing on possible technology transfer and the potential market for the aircraft, ADD officials said.

The ADD aimed to build the KF-X stealthier than either Dassault’s Rafale or Eurofighter’s Typhoon but not as stealthy as the F-35 of Lockheed Martin, they said.

The fighter would be designed as a single-seat, twin-engine aircraft with a total thrust of more than 40,000 pounds, they said, adding the agency had two KF-X concepts, a wing-tail K-100 aircraft configuration and a canard-wing K-200.

Indigenous high-tech weapon systems such as precision-guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles would equip the fighter, while core technology, including aircraft system integration, avionics, fly-by-wire systems and stealth capabilities, would be obtained from partner companies via offset trading or domestic research and development, they said.

However, analysts have questioned the program’s affordability, as well as its overlap with the third phase of the existing F-X fighter acquisition program that is eying the F-35.

Seoul intends to buy 120 advanced combat aircraft under its F-X fighter modernization program.

In 2002, Boeing's F-15K Eagle was selected for the 40-plane, $4.2 billion first phase of the F-X fighter modernization program. The firm is in final price negotiations with the DAPA over the 20-plane, $2.4 billion second phase of F-X.

Seoul plans to open bidding in 2011 and acquire 60 fifth-generation stealth jets, aiming to deploy the planes between 2014 and 2019, according to Air Force officials.

The F-35 is regarded as the viable candidate for the third phase of the F-X program because the only other stealth fighter in the world, the F-22 Raptor, also built by Lockheed, may be out of Seoul's reach financially and legally. U.S. law forbids the export of the F-22, while the F-35 was developed specifically for export.

But if South Korea purchases F-35s for the F-X program, the value of the midclass KF-X fighter acquisition would likely be degraded because South Korea’s Air Force regards the F-35 as a midclass aircraft in terms of mission requirements.

“To be honest, it is very difficult to predict the fate of the KF-X program, as there are lots of question marks as to the level of technology, gestation period, development costs and so on,â€� said Lee Ju-hyung of the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses' Center for Weapon System Studies, who participated in the KDI’s feasibility study. “I just want to remind you that the foremost purpose of the program is acquiring state-of-the-art aircraft technology through joint research and cooperation with foreign countries.â€�

You're clearly misreading the signal. Like it or not, ROK military purchases are going to gravitate toward domestic products. That what happens when you hav a solid heavy industry and electronic development capability. Everyone would agree that US is clearly not the best of friend when attempting to develope this department.

You and I both knew that this was an unlikely project to begin with. KFX was just to sudden, underbudgetted and rushed to be feasible. Economic angle was never actually a positive factor for the program, KDI study or not.

Why isn't SK a participant in the JSF program?

1) IOC
- F-35's won't be ready to full production until 2012, and even then only the first tier participants (U.S. and U.K.) will get the priority in procurement, with the second and third tiers coming later. Non-participants won't be getting the chance to purchase the F-35's until around 2020. ROK wants 5th generation fighter fast, ready by 2012 at the latest.

2) Limited mission orientation
- ROK wants something that can launch anti-ship missiles, particularly the Harpoons since they have ample supply of them. The current baseline F-35 variants can't do this.

3) Limited payload
- This can't be solved without the use of external wing pylons, which pretty much renders the stealth advantage of the F-35 useless.

4) Single-engine
- No matter how reliable engine technologies have become, twin-engined fighters are always preferred over single-engined ones. ROK wants twin-engined fighters mainly due to the high volume of water surrounding the country. (The same reason why most jet aircraft used by USN up until the F-35 becomes operational have all been twin-engined.)

5) Technology
- Tech transfer is very unlikely considering how stingy U.S. has been over the years.

6) Financial
- The R&D costs of the JSF program has been skyrocketing, and is expected to continue to rise. ROK doesn't want to commit to investing a large amount of resources to a project that would have little or no return.