Air Force Delays F-15K Delivery Following Crash

Published: Jul 04, 2006
Source: times.hankooki.com



South Korea has asked U.S. aircraft maker Boeing to delay the scheduled delivery of two F-15K fighter jets this month because of the ongoing investigation into the cause of a jet crash last month, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said Tuesday.

``Two F-15Ks were scheduled to be delivered to the Air Force this month, but we’ve requested Boeing to postpone the delivery until next month as F-15K flights have been suspended since the accident occurred,’’ Lim Jong-choon, an official at the DAPA’s aircraft procurement bureau, told reporters.

He, said, however that the delivery of 14 F-15Ks planned for this year will proceed as scheduled.

Under the $5.5-billion deal struck in 2002, U.S. aircraft giant Boeing started delivering 40 F-15Ks to South Korea last year. One F-15K costs about $105 million.

So far, six F-15Ks have been handed over to the Air Force. The remaining 34 will arrive here in stages until 2008.

This year, two aircraft will be delivered in August and 10 others are arriving here between October and December, Lim said. The multi-role combat aircraft will be operational in the latter half of next year, according to the Air Force.

On June 7, an F-15K crashed in the waters off Pohang, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul during a routine nighttime training mission, leaving the two pilots on board dead. Since then, the Air Force has halted the F-15K fighter’s flights both for training and inspection.

The Air Force and Boeing are conducting a joint investigation into the cause of the accident.

An Air Force official said if the investigation outcome is delayed, the aircraft delivery schedule is likely to be readjusted.

The F-15K, an advanced derivative of the U.S. Air Force F-15E, is capable of air-to-ground, air-to-air and air-to-sea missions day or night, under any weather conditions.

The long-range fighter is capable of carrying over 23,000 pounds of weapons, including the Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Responses cruise missile, the satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions, anti-ship Harpoon missiles and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

The aircraft, measuring 19.45 meters in length and 13.05 meters in width, flies at a maximum speed of Mach 2.3 and incorporates up-to-date military technologies such as a helmet-mounted cueing system and third-generation navigation and targeting systems.
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