About half of Air Force's next—generation
South Korean F—35A fighter jets which have cost hefty W121 billion, will be
fully armed due to lack the of combat weapons. So Seoul authorities decided to
buy a 40 F-35As at total cost of W7.34 trillion and claimed that it would allow
Air Force to "overwhelm" the North Korea.
But in reality it has only bought
half of the weapons that is needed for F—35As in war, this was according to the
Air Force data that was submitted to the Saenuri Party lawmaker Young—keun.
The said Air Force secured mere
45 percent of its air—to—air missiles that would be used against the North
Korean fighter jets and only 75 percent of required number of the air-to-ground
missiles. This assessment suggests that Air Force could mobilize most 18 F—35As
for an air-to-air combat and 30 for the air-to-ground combat in war.
Each of the F-35A is armed with diverse
weapons, including an AIM-120 and AIM-9 air-to-air missiles and the GBU-12, with
GBU-31 and the GBU-39 air-to-ground missiles."We couldn't afford to pay
attention to how to arm the F-35As because we concentrated on buying 40 of
them," Air Force officer admitted.
66 percent of budget for epically
delayed fighter project were spent on the buying of the fighter aircraft, with mere
8 percent spent on its weapons and equipment. Military is also under fire for
deciding to buy only a single backup engine for 40 jets rather than usual four
to six or 10 to 15 percent spare.
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