WASHINGTON, April 3, 2013 – The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress March 29 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Korea for* 60 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter* Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of *$10.8 billion.
The Government of the Republic of Korea has requested a possible sale of (60) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft. Aircraft will be configured with the Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines, and (9) Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines are included as spares. Other aircraft equipment includes:
Electronic Warfare Systems; Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence/Communication, Navigational and Identification (C4I/CNI); Autonomic Logistics Global Support System (ALGS); Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS); Full Mission Trainer; Weapons Employment Capability, and other Subsystems, Features, and Capabilities; F-35 unique infrared flares; reprogramming center; F-35 Performance Based Logistics. Also included: software Development/integration, aircraft ferry and tanker support, support equipment, tools and test equipment, communication equipment, spares and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical documents, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics personnel services, and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated cost is $10.8 billion.
http://www.dsca.osd.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2013/Korea_13-11.pdf
Not much extra equipment.
2 comments:
Of particular interest of course would be, when would the expected initial training aircraft be delivered and through which FY would the final aircraft (block III?) be delivered?
The estimated per unit price as listed ($180m per jet) appears to be what's called the total Procurement Unit Cost.
It would be of definite interest though, if the 'official' estimated PUC cost for a future FRP F-35A jet (e.g., procured in FY18) would stand at $180m per unit.
$180m ea, before any potential SDD-fix-it retrofits on the back end.
Personally, and only conjecturing based on gut feeling... but one would think that Korea's actual required 'interim' next-gen tactical platform would be something more along the lines of a Super Hornet. It would have some inherent frontal LO, probably even more stealthy than an hypothetical F-15SE-lite/F-15K++, but would be cheaper to operate, would be a proven and mature system (less risky an acquisition/more reliable) and could likely operate more flexibly and freely from austere landing locations and even roadways than either F-35A or an F-15K++.
And for such a small'ish sized country, threatened by insane quantities of hostile artillery and ballistic rocket forces, such distributed flexible basing and operations might be of a practical strategy.
Just pondering something like 60 Supers operating and trapping from 10 separate remote strips/roadways e.g., with another 40-50 pre-selected secondary operating sites to fall back on within 10-20km distance apart of the previous, etc. Just mass with distributed decoy Super Hornets on the ground at each site, as well as at an additional 50 decoy, non-existent operating sites.
For the savings in total PUC cost for such hypothetical, fully equipped 60 Super Hornets, vs procuring 60 F-35A (e.g., 45% x $180 x 60 jets = $4.85B), ROKAF could procure how many extra JASSM-ER and JSOW-ER to bolster strategic deterrent? Perhaps an extra 1,250-1,400 stand-off rounds thrown in for free?
..... who else can we sell the F35 to as to help make up the numbers.
by the time the F35 gets delivered in an operational form to South Korea, the whole Korean political and geographical stats may have changed (given the way things are going).
Post a Comment