KF-X Fighter: Pushing Paper, or Peer Program?

KODEF ’11 slide

In March 2013, Indonesia’s Defense Ministry says that South Korea has decided to put the KF-X program on hold for 18 months, while new President Park Geun-hye works to convince Parliament to go ahead. Indonesia is the sole foreign partner in the program to date, and has reportedly contributed IDR 1.6 trillion since they joined in July 2010 – but that’s just $165 million of the DAPA’s estimated WON 6 billion (about $5.5 billion) development cost.

Specifications and concepts for the KF-X vary considerably…

Import or Die: Taiwan’s (Un?)Stalled Force Modernization

Latest updates[?]: Full-simulation UH-60M helicopter trainers ordered from L-3; US asks Taiwan to keep watch on North Korea by using their new radar; USTBC asks why South Korea is cleared for fighters, and Taiwan not.

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Despite China’s ominous military buildup across the strait, key weapons sales of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, Patriot PAC-3 missiles, and diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan had been sabotaged by Taiwanese politics for years – in some cases, since 1997. The KMT party’s flip-flops and determined stalling tactics eventually created a crisis in US-Taiwan relations, which finally soured to the point that the USA refused a Taiwanese request for F-16C/D aircraft.

That seems to have brought things to a head. Most of the budget and political issues were eventually sorted out, and after a long delay, some major elements of Taiwan’s requested modernization program appear to be moving forward: P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, UH-60M helicopters, Patriot missile upgrades; and requests for AH-64D attack helicopters, E-2 Hawkeye AWACS planes, minehunting ships, and missiles for defense against aircraft, ships, and tanks. These are must-have capabilities when facing a Chinese government that has vowed to take the country by force, and which is building an extensive submarine fleet, a large array of ballistic missiles, an upgraded fighter fleet, and a number of amphibious-capable divisions. Chinese pressure continues to stall some of Taiwan’s most important upgrades, including diesel-electric submarines, and new American fighter jets. Meanwhile, other purchases from abroad continue.

Submarines for Indonesia

KRI Cakra
(click to view larger)

Indonesia sites astride one of the world’s most critical submarine chokepoints. A large share of global trade must pass through the critical Straits of Malacca, and the shallow littoral waters around the Indonesian archipelago. That makes for excellent submarine hunting grounds, but Indonesia has only 2 “Cakra Class”/ U209 submarines in its own fleet, relying instead on frigates, corvettes, and fast attack craft.

South Korea’s Daewoo, which has experience building U209s for South Korea, has been contracted for Cakra Class submarine upgrades. Even so, submarine pressure hulls have inflexible limits on their safe lifetime, due to repeated hydraulic squeezing from ascending and descending. The Indonesians have expressed serious interest in buying 3-6 replacement submarines since 2007, with French, German, Russian, South Korean, and even Turkish shipyards in the rumored mix. Other priorities shoved the sub purchase aside, but a growing economy and military interest finally revived it. South Korea was the beneficiary, but further orders may be in store.

India’s M-MRCA Fighter Competition: Is the Deal In Trouble?

IAF: Jaguar, Mirage 2000
SU-30K, MiG-27, MiG-21BiS

“It’s the biggest fighter aircraft deal since the early 1990s,” said Boeing’s Mark Kronenberg, who runs the company’s Asia/Pacific business. India’s planned multi-billion dollar, 126+ plane jet fighter buy became a contest between Dassault, Saab, MiG, American competitors and EADS’ Eurofighter.

What began as a lightweight fighter competition to replace India’s shrinking MiG-21 interceptor fleet soon bifurcated into 2 categories now, and 2 expense tiers. What changed? In a word, lots. The participants changed, India’s view of its own needs is changing, and the nature of the order may change as well. With the long-delayed release of the official $10 billion RFP, the competition began at last – and like all Indian decisions, it takes a very long time. DID offers an in-depth look at the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition’s changes, the RFP, and the competitors; and also offers an updated timeline regarding competitive moves since this article was first published in March 2006.

Rapid Fire April 8, 2013: Department of Denial FY14 Budget Preview

• The Pentagon will ask for $526.6B in the President Budget to be rolled out on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Pretending that sequestration does not exist worked out so well, they’re about to do it again with the FY14 budget. The House of Representatives will have a timely hearing on mental health research on the very same day.

• The answer [PDF] from CSBA’s Todd Harrison: “[T]he current cycle of managing from budget crisis to budget crisis is preventing the Pentagon from managing for the long term. To break out of this cycle, DoD should accept the reality of the budget caps currently in effect and begin planning for this lower level of funding.”

• Boeing’s F/A-XX will come in manned and unmanned versions, with a choice of liveries going from subdued light grey to bold Navy blue, and will provide “greatly increased range and offer far superior kinematic performance.” The nice things you get when pretend budgets meet unknown future tech.