Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) rolled out the first T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced trainer at its factory in Sachon on 31 October.
The aircraft has been designed and built with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin as part of the offset deal on an earlier sale of F-16 fighters to South Korea.
The first flight of the initial full-scale development (FSD) aircraft is scheduled for mid-2002. Assembly of the first T-50 was completed in mid-September - three months ahead of schedule.
"The T-50 is expected to be the mainstay of our production operations at KAI for the next 10 years or more," says KAI president Kil Hyoung-Bo.
Lockheed is the principal subcontractor to KAI, offering technical consultancy and building the wing, avionics and flight control system. Another three FSD aircraft will join the test programme which is due to finish in 2005.
The first production-standard T-50 is scheduled to emerge from the Sachon factory later that year. The South Korean air force has ordered 94 aircraft, which will be a mix of T-50s and the derivative A-50 light combat aircraft. The latter will incorporate an armament system and fire control radar.
Source: Flight International
