South Korea has a requirement for additional maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), following the start of operations with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon.
The requirement is in its early stages and would call for six new MPA assets, according to industry sources at the Seoul ADEX defence show.
Candidates could include the P-8A, as well as conceptual aircraft put forward by Embraer and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Randy Rotte, Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s regional director for India, Asia, and Pacific sales, notes that the P-8A, a derivative of the 737NG, continues to rack up sales, pointing to Canada’s acquisition of the type in 2023, and Denmark’s recent decision to obtain the aircraft.
In addition, Singapore recently selected the P-8A, which will make it the P-8’s fifth Asia-Pacific operator after Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Embraer, for its part, believes that a conceptual MPA variant of its E190 E2 regional jet could fill the requirement, or possibly an MPA variant of its C-390 tactical transport.
Operating off the coast of the Korean peninsula, the E2 MPA would offer a 10h time on station. It has six stations for mission operators and would feature a full array of sensors, four weapons beneath the wings, and a weapons bay for torpedoes.
In April 2024, Embraer and the Brazilian air force announced a pact to explore a maritime patrol version of the C-390. An Embraer brochure at ADEX suggests that the C-390 MPA would also feature a full range of sensors, two wing hardpoints for anti-ship missiles, and a ramp launch system for torpedoes, bombs and missiles.
Seoul is already a customer for the baseline C-390, with orders for three examples.
At its ADEX stand, KAI is showing a hypothetical MPA derived from a large business jet, with four hardpoints under the wings for weapons such as anti-ship missiles and bombs.
The aircraft would be capable of dropping large numbers of sonobuoys to detect submarines. A canoe fairing underneath the fuselage provides internal carriage for torpedoes.
Such an aircraft would likely involve considerable domestic workshare, and thus appeal to Seoul’s objectives to develop its aerospace industry locally.
In addition to the six P-8As, which South Korea ordered in 2020 through the US government’s Foreign Military Sales process, South Korea’s navy also operates 15 Lockheed P-3s, of which eight are in the P-3C-III+ standard and seven in the more advanced P-3CK standard.
