Korea's first stealth fighter jets arrive
(This video provided by Republic of Korea Air Force shows a welcoming ceremony for the arrival of two F-35A fighter jets, South Korea's first stealth fighter jets, at a military base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Friday afternoon.)
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An F-35A, South Korea’s first stealth fighter jet, arrives at a military base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Friday afternoon. Courtesy of Defense Acquisition Administration Program
By Jung Da-min
The first two F-35 stealth fighter jets for South Korea arrived at 2:35 p.m. Friday at a military air base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.
The arrival came after the United States approved a plan to export Lockheed Martin's latest F-35 jets to South Korea. South Korea had agreed to buy 40 F-35A stealth jets. The complete delivery of the jets will be done by 2021. In 2014, the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) clinched the deal, which has a value of 7.4 trillion won ($6.5 billion).
The first batch of the jets departed from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona on March 22 (local time). After maintenance and technical checks, the jets will go into operation in April or May, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
Eight more F-35As are expected to arrive in South Korea by the end of this year. The arrival of the stealth jets helped the country join the ranks of Asia's few radar-evading warplane operators that include China, Japan and Russia.
“We expect the deployment of the stealth fighter jets could enhance the Air Force's operational capabilities by strengthening military readiness posture against possible threats from all fronts,” DAPA chief Wang Jung-hong said.
Citing the fighter jet's decoy operational scenario and capability, military officials say the jets will play a bigger role to serve as a centerpiece of South Korea's strategic targeting scheme, previously called “Kill Chain,” to defend against North Korea's possible aggression.
In 2016, when geopolitical tensions were high on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's fifth nuclear test happened on Sept. 9 that year, the government announced its three-axis defense system including the Kill Chain pre-emptive strike program, as well as the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR).
Seoul later redesigned the three-axis defense system as the current administration of President Moon Jae-in is moving ahead with its “engagement-centric policy initiatives” toward North Korea.
An F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jet, one of the two fighter jets which arrived in South Korea on Friday afternoon, is on its way to the Republic of Korea Air Force’s key base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, after departing from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona on Wednesday. Courtesy of Defense Acquisition Program Administration
The F-35A, designed for air defense, ground attacks and reconnaissance missions, has a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 and a combat radius of 1,093 kilometers.
It is equipped with an internally mounted 25-millimeter GAU-22/A Equalizer gun designed for greater effectiveness against ground targets, as well as laser-guided bombs, air-to-air missiles and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) guided bombs. Its weapons payload capacity is 8,100 kilograms.
In March 2018, the first ROKAF F-35A jet made its debut at a Lockheed Martin manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and was delivered to the base in Arizona, where ROKAF pilots were sent for training. The first solo mission by a ROKAF fighter pilot aboard an F-35A was conducted at the training base in July 2018.
The F-35A is a conventional takeoff and landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) or F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft.
It is one of three members of the F-35 family that includes the F-35B, the short vertical takeoff and landing variant for marine operations and the F-35C, a variant for aircraft carrier-based operations.
North Korea has responded sensitively to Seoul's new fighter jet deployment plan, warning the introduction of the stealth fighter jets could spoil the peace efforts between the two Koreas.