This is a great news. The top of the line F35 fighters will be an valuable addition to the already strong air force.

Useless toys. All you need is nukes with super fast rockets that can't be hit.

Maybe that is a good idea.

the australians weren't too excited about the F35. they wanted the F22 instead but USA said no. Same as Japanese.

Corea has better chance because of participation in Iraq War. In Vietnam war, Corea was able to get advanced aircraft from U.S. because of the pariticpation bargaining chip, I think we can do the same now that we helped out in Iraq.

Australians sent troops to Iraq too. they were even part of the invasion. Japan supported both Afghanistan and also sent troops to Iraq.

I don't doubt F35 is on offer to Korea. but it's not as capable as F22 as many countries are realizing, it's almost as expensive, and it will not begin production until middle of next decade, with many nations waiting to get theirs.

Corea was 3rd largest provider of troops in Iraq War with some 3,500 Corean soldiers stationed there. I think its because of this that Corea will have a strong bargaining chip in asking America for a good fighter jet. All we may need is 1, which we can reverse engineere and study and help make our own (maybe part of KFX program).

It's not at all realistic to reverse engineer something as complex as a fighter. Even license production will take many many years, and engines will never happen basically. I think F-15K has some parts made in korea. do you know which parts?

the last aircraft which was reverse engineered was the B29, by the Soviets. They put 100,000 people to work on it for 3 years, for a quite primitive plane by today's standards. No country reversed engineered an entire airplane after that. The J7 came close but China had Soviet blue prints. the parts were not reverse engineered but actually chinese designed to complete the soviet blueprint. China got the blue print in 1962 but J7 was not ready until 1980.

....reverse engineering....suuuure.

There is no real doubt that ROKAF will buy into the F-35A. The question is, how many and how soon?

Looking at it as an F-16 replacement, the F-35 acquisition can begin at around 2020~2025 with aims to procure 80~100 airframes. By that timeframe, the F-35 would have gone through several blocks worth of upgrades in terms of capability, and the bugs would have been ironed out by the USAF and the early buyers.

On the other hand, by that time, it might be very difficult to negociate with the US in terms of logistics weapon system integrations. One of the biggest grudge I have against the F-35 is that the primary support facility for the F-35 is very likely to be built in Australia, robbing of us great deal of support capability. Another is that it would be next to impossible to integrate cruise missiles into the F-35 weapon systems. It could be done, but it would be either a) give Lockheed Martin the software code and pay to have them do it or b) fool around half-blind in the F-35 software to integrate the system yourself.

If F-35 is seen as a contender to 'prop-up' the ROKAF as our aged fleet of tactical fighters drop like flies from accidents or general fatigue in the coming years, an earlier acquisition is possible. Induction timeframe would be sped up to 2015~2018 with 60~80 airframes, and the F-16 replacement would be handled seperately. We would get the earlier blocks, maybe with some of the bugs still in there. There is also the issue of having to come up with a whole new doctrine for the stealth fighter. I'm afraid the current level of ROKAF leadership does not possess such capability, and would have to rely on USAF doctrine on limited sense (absolutely no one in the world can conduct aerial warfare in the way of USAF).

In reality, I believe bit of both will be happening. F-35 will be bought to replace some of the obsolete examples of fighters in ROKAF service. I think 40~60 will be bought initially, then later blocks will be bought in order to replace the F-16 in their roles at a later date once operation of F-35 is stable. Unless there is a serious mishap somewhere, I think at least 140 F-35 will be purchased by the ROKAF to serve as the backbone of the fighter fleet.

Yeh! KJlost is correct! F-35s are for F-16 & F-18 replacement, F-22 is replacement for interceptor/bomber like F-15s.

Korea prob. get F-35s for F-16 replacements in future but have to wait for F-22, F-15K will be use until 2020s.

Here, even Aussies are trying to get F-22s but not guarantee.
http://news.smh.com.au/gates-makes-no-prom...80224-1uck.html

I'm Australian so I know Australian defense is looking for F-22s instead of F-35s as F-35s will be more expensive for Australia as US offered F-18 Super hornet as replacement for Aussie's F-18s and F-111.

At the moment F-18 Super hornet can even track down F-22s with advanced radar system, however it's based on F-18 so it does have limitation, but US is only giving F-35s as option or get Super hornet now.

How does the ROKAF use a a fighter like this?? the US MARINES are the ones that are getting the F35... does the ROKMC have a aircombat element???

US Marine Corps aviation is getting F-35B, the STOVL version fitted with lift-fan and type of variable thrust vector engine nozzle. It's also 15~20% more expensive than the air force A version and carries less internal load to lesser ranges. Pass. The Royal Navy is also getting teh F-35B to use aboard their carrier, which is a mistake in my opinion, but whatever.

The verson I am speaking about is the F-35A version with conventional engine layout ad 2000 pound bomb capacity internally. USAF aims to aquire close to or ovr 2000 airframes with Norway, Australia, Turkey plus a dozen other nations lined up for purchase. ROKAF will be one of them.

As a side note, the F-35 Lightning II comes in 3 variations--always has since the JSF competition. F-35A is the air force varient. Most common, least expensive. F-35B is the Marine veriant with the Royal Navy also ordering a batch. Harrier replacement. F-35C is the naval CTOL version with larger wings for greater control during landing and greator range.

Even F-35 will be available for Korea, Korean won't get them before 2020.

Looks like Korea is looking into upgrading F-16C/Ds and concentrate on FA-50s.