The
letter of credit(LOC) for the South Korean F/A-50 "Fighting Eagle"
will be signed within the month.
The
signing will take place by this coming week or the next, Defense undersecretary
for finance, modernization, installation and munitions Fernando Manalo, said.
No
other details were given.
An
LOC is a document issued by a financial institution, or a similar party,
assuring payment to a seller of goods and/or services provided certain
documents have been presented to the bank.
Contract
for the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) jet aircraft, of which the Philippines has
ordered 12 units for P18 billion, was signed last March 28.
Upon
signing of the LOC, two F/A-50 jet aircraft are expected to be delivered 18
months after.
While
the next two will be delivered 12 months later and the remaining eight jet
planes to be delivered in staggered basis within eight months.
The
F/A-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and a half times the speed of sound
and is capable of being fitted air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9
"Sidewinder" air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles aside from light
automatic cannons.
The
F/A-50 will act as the country's interim fighter until the Philippines get
enough experience of operating fast jet assets and money to fund the
acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.
The
F/A-50 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 (48,000 feet), 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 "Fighting 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.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=653475
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