Thanks for the article Peter.
However, the most convincing explanation seems to be the fear of “structural disarmament” of the ROK Air Force should it choose to buy yet another batch of expensive fighters to replace the aging F-4 Phantom and F-5 Tiger fighters. Simply stated, the more advanced the fighter jet, the more costly it is. The more expensive the jet, the fewer the South Korean military can purchase. The fewer stealth fighters purchased, the smaller the ROK Air Force.Money. It always comes back to money.
Indeed, the limitations of South Korea’s US$7.43 billion budget for fighter acquisition and procurement (A & P) seems to have been the primary motivating factor in selecting the F-15SE. As Soon-ho Lee warned last month, “if the F-X project is pursued as planned, the ROK Air Force may have to scrap the contentious Korean Fighter eXperimental (KFX) project, which [may leave] the ROK Air Force [with] only around 200 fighters.”
The S. Koreans looked at their budget, and determined what they could afford. Inside that revolutionary construct they chose a capable, but non-stealthy airplane.
What is scaring the living shit out of the F-35 program office and Amos is the idea that other nations will take a good long look at their budget. They'll also get the latest brief from Boeing on the Ultra Hornet and they'll have to decide.
If the Ultra Hornet can do 90% of the F-35 missions at half the price then why buy the more expensive airplane (this is applicable because some of the classified stuff the Navy is doing with the Super Hornet will make its way over to the F-1SE).
90% capability vs. 100% perfection.
I'll take the 90 while being able to have a balanced force over the 100 that is biased.
