Export to Thailand reinforces position of Korean ultrasonic jets in U.S. T-X project

Export to Thailand reinforces position of Korean ultrasonic jets in U.S. T-X project. September. 21, 2015 06:59. neone@donga.com.

The Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) has signed on the deal to export T-50 (photo), home-produced ultrasonic trainer jet aircraft, with the Thai government. This deal, worth 38 trillion won (approx. USD 32.37 billion), has reinforced the position of the T-50 trainer in the next trainer T-X project of the U.S.

The KAI has announced on Sunday that Thailand has signed a deal to purchase four T-50 trainers for USD 110 million. Considering that the Thai air force owns 36 trainer jets, it does not account for a big portion. But the deal holds significance as the home-built ultrasonic jet goes ahead in the competition with Italian Aermacchi’s trainer M-346, which has been the T-50’s rival. Thai government officials said that the T-50 was selected over the M-346 after a neck-and-neck competition.

Thanks to the deal with the Thai government, the number of nations where the T-50 trainer has been exported became four, including Indonesia (16 jets) in 2011, Iraq (24) in 2013, the Philippines (12) in 2014. Italy’s M-346 has been exported to three nations so far. As the two jets have competed for the U.S. T-X project, it means that the T-50, which has been exported to more nations, takes the advantageous position.

“The T-X project is a mammoth scale project to purchase 1,000 aircrafts, including 350 trainer jets, 150 virtual enemy aircrafts for battle training and 500 trainer jets for the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. The U.S. military authority is expected to select the trainer jet for the T-X project in the second half of 2017,” said the KAI.

According to the KAI, the Thai air force has decided to purchase only four T-50 jets due to tight budget but it has a plan to replace old-dated Czech trainers with the T-50. The export deal has served as an opportunity to build a long-term partnership between the KAI and the Thai air force.