SEOUL, July 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s homegrown KF-21 fighter successfully carried out its first flight test Tuesday, around 6 1/2 years after its mammoth development project kicked off despite skepticism over technological obstacles, cost effectiveness and other feasibility questions. At the Air Force’s 3rd Flying Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers south [...]
SEOUL, July 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean Air Force’s aerobatic flight team received two top awards at the world’s largest military air show in Britain over the weekend, the armed service said Monday. The Black Eagles team clinched the King Hussein Memorial Sword for the best overall flying demonstration and the As the [...]
SEOUL, July 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and the United States have been conducting combined military drills, involving a high-tech training system, Seoul official said Monday, amid the allies’ stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korea’s evolving security threats. The 11-day training got under way at the Army’s Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) [...]
SEOUL, July 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s defense authorities approved a 3.94 trillion-won (US$2.97 billion) plan Friday to deploy some 20 additional F-35A radar-evading fighters by 2028 as part of efforts to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, according to the state arms procurement agency. The Defense Project Promotion Committee endorsed the “basic” [...]
SEOUL, July 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s Navy on Friday launched a new aviation command to be armed with high-end surveillance aircraft, choppers and drones, as part of efforts for stronger, longer-range maritime security capabilities, officials said. Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Lee Jong-ho hosted a ceremony launching the Naval Air Command at [...]
SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and the United States have been conducting their first combined air drills here involving their respective F-35A stealth fighters, Seoul officials said Thursday, in an apparent show of force against North Korea’s evolving military threats. The four-day drills kicked off Monday amid lingering concerns that Pyongyang could [...]
KUNSAN AIR BASE, July 9 (Korea Bizwire) — F-16 fighters roared over a key U.S. air base in the southwestern city of Gunsan while ground maintenance staff checked JADAM penetrator bombs and others added to its evolving arsenal new technologies like “dronebusters.” The routine yet indispensable daily operations on Thursday underscored their priority on readiness [...]
SEOUL, July 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean defense firm Hanwha Corp. signed a contract with Indonesia’s national police last month to supply 25 armored vehicles by 2024, its officials said Wednesday. The company inked the deal with the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia on June 15 following an international bidding process for [...]
SEOUL, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Former U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday emphasized the importance of deterrence as a “primary” tool to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula and help diplomats work to that end “from a position of strength.” Mattis, who led the Pentagon from January 2017 to December 2018 under former [...]