By Jun Ji-hye
A U.S. Air Force commander here expressed concern that a delayed project to upgrade the Air Force's KF-16 fleet will hinder the joint combat capability of South Korea and the United States.
Due to the delay, KF-16 fighter jets still do not have crucial systems, including an advanced data link system that enables the allies to share real time battlefield information, an advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and other necessary software.
The Air Force operates the U.S. military's Link-16 or Link-11 airborne tactical data link systems on its F-15K and FA-50 aircraft to enhance joint operations capability, but the KF-16s have yet to have such a system installed.
U.S. 7th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy said it is important that the Air Force continues to modify its fleets and its capabilities in order to remain interoperable with the U.S. Air Force.
"We want to be interoperable to be able to talk back and forth to each other. If we don't have that ability to operate at the highest level together, then it's going to hinder our ability to operate together," he said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. "We are so much more powerful when we operate as a combined team than when we operate independently, this continued advancements capability allows us to operate as a combined team, which is incredibly powerful."
The 7th Air Force commands and controls all of the airmen that are stationed in South Korea.
The nation's 1.75 trillion won project to upgrade 134 KF-16s has been delayed since an initial contract with the U.K.-based BAE Systems was canceled last year after the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) was asked to pay 800 billion won more — 500 billion won to the U.S. government and 300 billion won to BAE. For the project, the U.S. government had agreed to provide its foreign military sale (FMS) guarantee for the multinational company.
Following the cancelation, DAPA is now conducting negotiations with Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-16, for the upgrade.
Observers say starting the negotiation process all over again will cause a delay in the upgrade schedule and possibly additional costs.
BAE Systems was planning to finish the upgrade work for the first two aircraft by 2019.
Randy Howard, integrated fighter group director of Business Development at Lockheed Martin, said, "Discussions between the Korean and the U.S. governments are ongoing, and Lockheed Martin is providing support to those discussions as required."
Howard made the remarks during an interview last week on the sidelines of the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2015 (Seoul ADEX 2015) at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
He avoided directly talking about the price issue, saying cost discussions occur between the two governments since the KF-16 upgrade program is offered by the U.S. government under the FMS program.
"We are looking forward to a government-to-government agreement soon so that we can move forward on the important work of implementing a successful KF-16 upgrade program," he said.
Regarding the schedule, he noted that the development phase for a typical F-16 upgrade program is approximately three years.
"The current plan is for all of the upgrade installations to be performed in Korea by Korean industry. Several factors define how long the retrofit span will be including how much space exists within the Korean supplier's facility to retrofit multiple aircraft at one time, how many aircraft the user releases for modification at a given time, and how long it takes to modify each aircraft," he said.
Enhancements for KF-16s would include AESA radar, a refresh of the avionics subsystem mission computers and display processors, a large-format 6x8 high-resolution display, a high-volume, high-speed data bus and LINK-16, which will enable F-16 users to operate on a data network, as well as the latest upgrades for advanced weapons capabilities, he said.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
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Lt. Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy |
Due to the delay, KF-16 fighter jets still do not have crucial systems, including an advanced data link system that enables the allies to share real time battlefield information, an advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and other necessary software.
The Air Force operates the U.S. military's Link-16 or Link-11 airborne tactical data link systems on its F-15K and FA-50 aircraft to enhance joint operations capability, but the KF-16s have yet to have such a system installed.
U.S. 7th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy said it is important that the Air Force continues to modify its fleets and its capabilities in order to remain interoperable with the U.S. Air Force.
"We want to be interoperable to be able to talk back and forth to each other. If we don't have that ability to operate at the highest level together, then it's going to hinder our ability to operate together," he said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. "We are so much more powerful when we operate as a combined team than when we operate independently, this continued advancements capability allows us to operate as a combined team, which is incredibly powerful."
The 7th Air Force commands and controls all of the airmen that are stationed in South Korea.
The nation's 1.75 trillion won project to upgrade 134 KF-16s has been delayed since an initial contract with the U.K.-based BAE Systems was canceled last year after the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) was asked to pay 800 billion won more — 500 billion won to the U.S. government and 300 billion won to BAE. For the project, the U.S. government had agreed to provide its foreign military sale (FMS) guarantee for the multinational company.
Following the cancelation, DAPA is now conducting negotiations with Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-16, for the upgrade.
Observers say starting the negotiation process all over again will cause a delay in the upgrade schedule and possibly additional costs.
BAE Systems was planning to finish the upgrade work for the first two aircraft by 2019.
Randy Howard, integrated fighter group director of Business Development at Lockheed Martin, said, "Discussions between the Korean and the U.S. governments are ongoing, and Lockheed Martin is providing support to those discussions as required."
Howard made the remarks during an interview last week on the sidelines of the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2015 (Seoul ADEX 2015) at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
He avoided directly talking about the price issue, saying cost discussions occur between the two governments since the KF-16 upgrade program is offered by the U.S. government under the FMS program.
"We are looking forward to a government-to-government agreement soon so that we can move forward on the important work of implementing a successful KF-16 upgrade program," he said.
Regarding the schedule, he noted that the development phase for a typical F-16 upgrade program is approximately three years.
"The current plan is for all of the upgrade installations to be performed in Korea by Korean industry. Several factors define how long the retrofit span will be including how much space exists within the Korean supplier's facility to retrofit multiple aircraft at one time, how many aircraft the user releases for modification at a given time, and how long it takes to modify each aircraft," he said.
Enhancements for KF-16s would include AESA radar, a refresh of the avionics subsystem mission computers and display processors, a large-format 6x8 high-resolution display, a high-volume, high-speed data bus and LINK-16, which will enable F-16 users to operate on a data network, as well as the latest upgrades for advanced weapons capabilities, he said.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
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