Aviation Week & Space Technology - January 15, 2015

South Korea’s ability to move

into defense export markets is

based on large domestic demand

aircraft—modernized with Turkish
avionics and weapons—is being ofered
to customers with which Turkey has
favorable export relationships, such as
Pakistan and Azerbajian.
A similar principle has been applied
to Alenia’s conversion of ATR 72
turboprop airliners into maritime
patrol aircraft, while the T-70 program
to build a Turkish adapatation of the
Black Hawk helicopter for domestic use
could open new international markets
for that aircraft, allowing Sikorsky

to sell it again in markets where

Turkish products have an advantage.

Furthermore, the experience garnered

in the type’s development will help TAI’s

work on an indigenous utility helicopter.

The company’s experience on the F-16

allowed it to recently carry out upgrades

on Vipers operated by Pakistan.

Turkey also wants to develop a poten-

tially exportable indigenous fifth-gen-

eration fighter to fly by 2023. However,

politics have already delayed the devel-

opment process considerably, as have

issues surrounding the selection of a de-

velopment partner for a new long-range

surface-to-air missile system, dubbed

T-Loramids. The initial choice—China’s

Precision Machinery Import-Export

Corporation (CPMIEC)—and its HQ-9

system prompted concerns from NATO

members about the integration of the

Chinese system into the wider NATO

air and missile defense network. Conse-

quently, Turkey has begun negotiations

with the Eurosam consortium of MBDA

and Thales. c

inexperience in transferring defense
know-how is a key concern of analyst
Andrew Davies of the Australian Stra-
tegic Policy Institute, who also points
to potential language difculties.
The Australian submarine project
highlights the issue of production
technology. In some areas, such as
warship construction, Japan appears
to have an unusually efcient industry.
Two Japanese shipbuilders, running
almost like clockwork, alternate in
commencing construction of one sub-
marine a year, enjoying an unusually
fast order rate by modern standards.
They consistently deliver each boat
three years later at a cost, recently, of
about $600 million. Australian govern-

ment estimates suggest that building

similar subs at Adelaide would cost

five times as much.

Conversely, Japanese build military

aircraft at painfully low rates, with the

aim of sustaining the industrial base

rather than holding down costs. Most

Western programs are set up for fair-

ly fast production runs. For example,

the Japanese defense ministry plans

to stretch the building of about 150

army utility helicopters over 20 years,

which no U.S. or European procure-

ment agency would consider.

Lifting the export ban will help Japan

avoid that sort of arrangement. For the

rotorcraft program, Airbus is ofering

its forthcoming X4 helicopter and pro-

poses that KHI build not the whole air-

craft for Japan but the drive train and

rotor for, presumably, all buyers. Given

the chance to build fast, Japan’s aircraft

industry achieves world-class efciency,

as shown by its enduring major role in

Boeing commercial aircraft programs.

Then there are opportunities in li-

cense production of equipment that the

licensor is no longer making. In 2013 it

turned out that Japan, with its habit of

making things for itself, was manufac-

turing Rolls-Royce marine engine parts

that the British company had stopped

making. Tokyo let KHI supply the parts

to the Royal Navy—which, in contrast

with its experience with Belleville boil-

ers, appears to be satisfied. c

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 15-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 47

Bradley Perrett Sydney

Seoul’s Success

South Korean exports—from ground equipment

to ships and aircraft—widen

S

outh Korea is becoming a play-
er in defense exports. In eight
years since 2006 its annual
foreign sales have grown relentlessly
from an almost negligible $250 million
to a far-from-negligible $3.6 billion.
The weight of those exports is also
moving from army equipment, which
South Korea at first found easiest to
develop, to warships, propeller train-
ing aircraft and, most recently, light
supersonic combat aircraft. The de-
fense ministry, which collates the ex-
port figures, is forecasting a further
rise in sales to more than $4 billion
this year.
Yet from an aircraft manufacturing

standpoint, defense sales are still far

too low, says Cho Jinsoo, an aeronau-

tics professor of Hanyang University.

Boeing and Airbus dominated aircraft

manufacturing by KAI and Korean

Airlines. And although the KAI’s T-50

family, which includes the FA-50, has

enjoyed export success, Cho and oth-

ers in the industry note that its sales are

subject to a U.S. veto, because the air-

craft, developed with help from Lock-

heed Martin, has much U.S. equipment.

Balancing aircraft manufacturing

requires much larger military sales,

and to achieve them South Korea must

develop its KF-X indigenous fighter,

says Cho, who serves on government

advisory boards.

The T-50 family, com-

bining the aerodynam-

ics of the F-16 with the

size of the Saab Gripen

but lacking the air-to-

air capability of either,

has become an industry

highlight. KAI has now

booked export orders for 52 of the su-

personic type: 16 TA-50 armed train-

ers for Indonesia in 2011, 24 FA-50 light

strike aircraft for Iraq (but called T-

50s) and 12 FA-50s for the Philippines.

Thanks to the exports and a top-up

order from the South Korean air force,

KAI has been able to boost production.

At the earlier rate of one a month, labor

costs had already fallen from 59,000