KAI T-50

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KAI T-50 Golden Eagle
KAI T-50 "Golden Eagle"
KAI T-50 "Golden Eagle"
Type: Supersonic trainer
Design country:

Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea

Manufacturer:

Korea Aerospace Industries

First flight:

August 20, 2002

Commissioning:

August 30, 2005

Production time:

In series production since 2005

The KAI T-50 Golden Eagle (골든 이글) is a South Korean supersonic trainer from Korea Aerospace Industries .

history

The development of the T-50 began in 1992 with studies by Samsung for a jet-powered supersonic trainer under the project name KTX-2. After the turbo prop trainer KTX-1 , which had its maiden flight in December 1991, this should be a further step towards the independence of the domestic aviation industry. The KTX-2 was to replace the T-38 Talon and Hawk and later the F-5 Tiger II .

Since the cost of the development was estimated to be high (it cost a total of 2 billion US dollars), a strong partner was sought, who was found in Lockheed Martin . However, this led to time delays, so that the project was only officially started in mid-1997. Financially, Lockheed Martin (13%), KAI (17%) and the South Korean state (70%) shared the costs. Lockheed Martin's influence can be seen in the design of the machine, which is similar to the F-16 .

On October 24, 1997, the contract for the construction of six prototypes (two of which only for static tests) was signed. In August 1999 the design freeze took place , in October 1999 the company KAI was founded and in February 2000 the company was renamed T-50. The first prototype was built from January 2001 onwards and presented to the public for the first time on October 31, 2001 in the presence of President Kim Dae-jung. On August 20, 2002, the prototype took off on its 39-minute maiden flight with Lieutenant Colonel Cho Gwang-Je on board. The first flight of the second prototype followed on November 8 of the same year. On February 19, 2003, at Mach 1.05, supersonic was reached for the first time. The prototype of the trainer / fighter-bomber version, known as LIFT (Lead-in-Fighter-Trainer), T-50B, A-50 or TA-50 took off on August 29, 2003, the fourth prototype on September 4, 2003 for its maiden flight.

At the end of 2003, the first firm order for 25 machines from the South Korean Air Force was placed, and on August 30, 2005, the first series machine celebrated its rollout at the KAI plant in Sachon. The official handover of the first machine to the South Korean Air Force took place on December 29, 2005 to the squadron in Gwangju . 94 machines have now been ordered, 44 of them in the TA-50 version. The first TA-50 was rolled out on January 24, 2011. A pure combat version with the designation FA-50 (including AESA radar from Elta) as a replacement for the F-5 is still to be developed. The order for this was placed in December 2008 and the first flight is scheduled for 2012. At the beginning of 2011, 20 FA-50s were firmly ordered, which were delivered between 2013 and 2014.

Using a modified version of the T-50 took Lockheed Martin on the TX program of the US Air Force in part, the aim of which was to create a modern successor to the Northrop T-38 Talon to find. The Lockheed Martin version is called the T-50A and took off on its maiden flight on June 2, 2016.

Users

ArgentinaArgentina Argentina
Fuerza Aérea Argentina : approx. 10 FA-50 considered
IraqIraq Iraq
Iraqi Air Force : 24 T-50IQ (FA-50) (delivery 2016/2017)
IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia
Indonesian Air Force : 16 T-50I (TA-50) (delivery 2013/2014)
PhilippinesPhilippines Philippines
Philippine Air Force: 12 T-50PH (FA-50) (delivery 2015-2017)
Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea
South Korean Air Force : 124 (50 T-50, 10 T-50B, 44 TA-50, 24 FA-50 of which 4 converted from TA-50)
ThailandThailand Thailand
Royal Thai Air Force : 12 T-50TH (influx since 2018)

Technical specifications

The machine is designed as a middle-decker with slightly swept wings with protruding wing roots ( LERX ), fully movable horizontal fins and tandem cockpit with Martin-Baker -Mk.10L ejection seats . The cockpit of the aircraft, which is controlled by fly-by-wire and according to the HOTAS principle (all functions on the sidestick on the right-hand side ) is equipped with four 127 mm multifunctional screens from Honeywell and a head-up display . The avionics consists of an inertial navigation system, GPS and (in the TA-50) an APG-67 V4 multi-purpose radar. A FADEC- controlled General Electric F404 is used as the engine, which is supplied by seven internal tanks with a total of 2650 l and up to three external tanks with 570 l. The Messier Dowty retractable undercarriage has single tires.

Parameter Data
crew 2
length 13.13 m
span 9.17 m (9.45 m with missiles)
height 4.94 m
Wing area 26.6 m²
Rate of climb 201 m / s
Load factor +8 to -3 g
Service ceiling 14,700 m
Range
  • 1480 km without additional tanks
  • 2600 km with additional tanks
Empty mass 6441 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 13,470 kg
Top speed 1485 km / h
Marching speed 986 km / h
Stall speed 195 km / h
Take-off run 345 m
Landing runway 710 m
Engines a General Electric F404-GE-102 turbofan engine
power 78.7 kN with afterburner
Armament (TA-50)
  • triple-flight 20-mm automatic cannon based on the M61 Vulcan 205 with weft and 3000 rounds / min
  • 2040 kg external load at seven external suspension points:

See also

Web links

Commons : T-50 Golden Eagle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Aero Flight: T-50
  2. FliegerRevue March 2011, p. 8, roll-out of the TA-50
  3. a b FliegerRevue February 2009, pp. 26–30, T-50 Golden Eagle
  4. FlugRevue April 2009, pp. 51–54, Aircraft down to the last detail - Korea Aerospace T-50 Golden Eagle
  5. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/10/31/2014103101236.html
  6. Boeing wins $ 9.2b TX trainer contract with USAF. FlightGlobal, September 27, 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  7. Lockheed's T-50A Lifts Off for First Time Ahead of TX Competition. DefenseNews.com, June 2, 2016, accessed August 23, 2016 .
  8. Argentina selects Korean FA-50 fighter, Janes, July 21, 2019
  9. Jane's Information Group : Philippines to get first two FA-50s early ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed March 3, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.janes.com
  10. Thai air force receives initial batch of T-50 trainers, Janes, January 25, 2018