Lockheed's F-35 feels heat from 2 competitors
Lockheed Martin’s F-35
Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle
EADS’s Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon
By Kang Seung-woo
The third phase of the F-X project should be a one-horse race for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
But as a set of issues over high price, late delivery and potential flaws in the development have hurt its favored status in the three-way competition, meaning its rivals have been given a fighting chance.
The F-35 is bidding against Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle and Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon from the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) to sell 60 new fighter aircraft that will replace the Korean Air Force’s obsolete fleet of F-4s and F-5s.
While each bidder is employing aggressive marketing strategy to secure the $7.5 billion contract, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) plans Tuesday to start accepting bids on the most expensive procurement deal in the nation’s history before coming up with a final bidder by the end of June. Here are the three jet fighters attempting to address the Air Force’s needs.
F-35
In terms of technology and capabilities, the F-35 stands head and shoulders above its rivals.
First and foremost, the single-seat, single-engine fighter is a “fifth generation” stealth platform that the Korean Air Force badly desires, as it was devised as a little brother of F-22 Raptor, the top U.S. air fighter, to provide overseas customers with a less costly stealth fighter.
“It is able to penetrate heavily defended airspace (of North Korea) and hold targets of interest at risk 24/7. This is the essence of pro-active strategic deterrence,” said Randy Howard, Lockheed Martin’s director of the Korea F-35 Campaign.
Currently, DAPA is adamant about purchasing 60 high-end multi-role fighter jets with budget constraints.
However, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which handles foreign military sales (FMS) for the U.S. Defense Department, the planes, along with associated gear, parts, training and logistical support, would cost Korea $10.8 billion, well over the target cost.
Along with the price, much-publicized delay in the F-35 program is another problem that is often the competitors’ punch line because critics say it is questionable if the aircraft would be delivered at a time Korea needs them.
F-15
The Silent Eagle, a proposed upgrade of the F-15E, is buoyant about its largest weapons payload among all the rivals of the F-X competition.
“The Silent Eagle has a very diverse payload and a large variety of weapons that are interoperable with U.S. forces on the peninsula and it can carry heavy weapons — 3,000 pound- and 5,000 pound-class weapons in addition to 2,000 pound class and below,” said Howard Berry, Boeing’s F-X III campaign director.
In addition, Boeing was the winner of the previous two phases of the F-X project that supplied a total of 61 F-15K Slam Eagles, another variant of the F-15E, and the Silent Eagle shares more than 85 percent of the features in the Slam Eagle. The cost of the aircraft is believed to hit near DAPA’s purchase goal, along with anticipation that Boeing will be able to meet the delivery timeline. However, the Silent Eagle still remains a concept fighter jet.
In order to meet the Air Force’s desire for stealth function, the Silent Eagle also used the technology, but it is doubtful whether its feature will be as low as the F-35 or the F-22 because the F-15 was designed on the basis of the non-stealth concept that dates back to 1968.
Eurofighter Tranche 3
The Eurofighter is a combat-proven aircraft, as the fighter jet made its combat debut over Libya in 2011.
In addition, its underdog status may enable EADS to get more flexible in the bidding in terms of price cuts.
The four-nation consortium, which promised to invest $2 billion in the nation’s indigenous fighter plane program, will assemble 53 of the 60 Eurofighters locally.
However, along with the F-15, the Eurofighter shares a fourth-generation status and is the only player without stealth capability in the race.