By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The South Korean Air Force will fly KF-16 fighter jets that can carry sophisticated precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) by the year-end, an Air Force official said Wednesday.
The JDAM-equipped KF-16 fleet will take the lead in carrying out surgical strikes against thousands of North Korean artillery pieces hidden in mountain caves and tunnels near the inter-Korean border in the event of war, the official said.
The JDAM GBU-31 is a U.S. high-tech guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, all-weather ``smart'' munitions. Guidance is facilitated through a tail control system and a global positioning system (GPS)-aided internal navigation system.
The 40,000-dollar-bomb has a glide-range upon release of 24 kilometers and provides a weapon circular error probability of 13 meters. It can penetrate up to 2.4 meters of concrete, he said.
The armament upgrade for the KF-16 is part of the 2010-2014 arms improvement plan being submitted soon to President Lee Myung-bak for approval, he added.
The Air Force has been working together with the U.S. Air Force for the past years on improving the KF-16's computer systems, databases and cabling so that the aircraft will be able to carry a batch of advanced guided weapons, including JDAMs, AIM-9X tactical air-to-air missiles and GBU-24 laser-guided bombs, the official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.
The modification work has almost been completed, and the KF-16 will be operational with JDAMs by the year-end after ground and air-to-ground testing between July and August, he noted.
The KF-16 fleet will be equipped with downsized JDAMs with a weight of 1,000 or 500 pounds. A normal JDAM weighs 2,000 pounds.
The KF-16 is the local designation for the F-16 C/D model of the U.S. Lockheed Martin-built Fighting Falcon.
South Korea now operates an older fleet of 34 Block 32 F-16s purchased in the 1980s, as well as a newer fleet of 135 F-16s manufactured locally to the Block 52 standard from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s under a $5.5 billion licensing agreement.
The upgrades are applicable to the newer models.
Another key upgrade for the KF-16 will be a new radar to replace the existing APG-68(v)5/(v)7 system, according to sources.
The Air Force is positively considering the EL/M-2032 developed by Israel's Elta Systems, which will also equip the service's FA-50 trainer-turned-lightweight fighter to be developed by 2012.
The advanced mechanically scanned array radar is credited with a look-up tracking range of up to 100 kilometers and believed to have better simultaneous target tracking capability than those of the current KF-16 radars.