PHL defense officials talking with SK counterparts for F/A-50 acquisition project

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 13): PHL defense officials talking with SK counterparts for F/A-50 acquisition project

Defense officials are talking with representatives of South Korea's Defense Acquisition and Procurement Authority regarding its intention to acquire the Korea Aerospace Industries F/A-50 Golden Eagle.

The Authority is responsible for all export of military equipment manufactured in South Korea.

Around 12 units are expected to serve as the interim fighter aircraft of the Philippine Air Force.

Defense sources said: "The talks with the South Korean representative is to ensure that the aircraft will be acquired through government-to-government procurement mode.

"So far, the talks have been progressing well and they are now talking on the unit price (of the F/A-50) and the weapons, navigation, and technical and logistic support that will be provided to the Philippine ordered jet planes."

He declined to comment on how long the talks will last or whether this would lead to a contract signing.

The Philippines is in the market for 12 supersonic trainer aircraft which can double as interim fighter and attack planes for the PAF.

It has allocated P18 billion for this program.

The Government Procurement Policy Board earlier gave the DND the "green-light" to start pre-negotiations with the South Korean government for 12 F/A 50 aircraft last January.

The F/A-50 is also known as the TA-50.

Its design is largely derived from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and they have many similarities: use of a single engine, speed, size, cost, and the range of weapons.

KAI's previous engineering experience in license-producing the KF-16 was a starting point for the development of the F/A-50.

The aircraft can carry two pilots in tandem seating.

The high-mounted canopy developed by Hankuk Fiber is applied with stretched acrylic, providing the pilots with good visibility, and has been tested to offer the canopy with ballistic protection against four-pound objects impacting at 400 knots.

The altitude limit is 14,600 meters, and airframe is designed to last 8,000 hours of service.

There are seven internal fuel tanks with capacity of 2,655 liters (701 US gallons), five in the fuselage and two in the wings.

An additional 1,710 liters (452 US gallons) of fuel can be carried in the three external fuel tanks.

Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.

The F/A-50 "Golden Eagle" uses a single General Electric F404-102 turbofan engine license-produced by Samsung Techwin, upgraded with a full authority digital engine control system jointly developed by General Electric and KAI.

The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage arrangement, and an afterburner.

The aircraft has a maximum speed of Mach 1.4-1.5.

Its engine produces a maximum of 78.7 kN (17,700 lbf) of thrust with afterburner.

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