Military begins AESA radar development

By Jun Ji-hye

The military officially began a project Wednesday to develop active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the nation’s indigenous fighter jets.

The Agency for Defense Development (ADD), a defense ministry-affiliated organization, which will supervise the development of AESA radar, held the first meeting at its headquarters in Daejeon with relevant institutions, including defense firm Hanwha Thales, to check the development timelines.

Hanwha Thales, a defense arm of Hanwha Group, was selected in April as a preferred bidder to produce the AESA radar.

The development of the radar and its integration technology is part of the 8.5 trillion won KF-X project to build indigenous fighters by 2026 to replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s. The nation will invest an additional 10 trillion won to produce 120 jets by 2032.

AESA is essential equipment that helps a pilot identify friend or foe in battle and finds targets on the ground.

“The first radar will be released in the second half of 2020,” the ADD said in a release. “We will put the radar on the prototype KF-X in 2021 and conduct test flights for five years to complete development by 2026.”

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which orchestrates the KF-X project, noted that once development is completed, it will be integrated with the KF-X in cooperation with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the nation’s lone aircraft maker that has signed a KF-X contract with DAPA.

The nation was originally planning to receive AESA radar technology from U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin through the offset deal in the 7.3 trillion won contract to purchase 40 F-35 stealth jets, but the plan foundered last year after the U.S. government rejected the firm’s request to transfer four core technologies ― infrared search and track, electronic optics targeting pod, radio frequency jammer and AESA radar ― to Korea for security reasons.

Since then, Seoul said it will develop the four technologies domestically.

“We will make the most use of the nation’s accumulated technology and relevant manpower to meet the deadline for the development,” the ADD said.

The agency established a task force dedicated to the radar development in February.