Check out these pictures that Steve Trimble snapped of the latest stealth fighter design to hit the international market. They pics show Korean Aircraft Industries' proposed stealthy next-gen fighter that was unveiled at the Seoul Air Show this week. South Korea plans to field the plane, dubbed KF-X, in the next nine years as a replacement for it's Vietnam War-era F-4 Phantom IIs and F-5E Tiger IIs. Going from fighters that first flew in the late 1950s and 1960s to a stealthy design resembling some sort of twin-engined F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as Trimble puts it, is quite the leap. In addition to KAI, Eurofighter is also bidding a design for KF-X. In an example of how stealth fighters will be all over the place by the 2020s, Indonesia is already a partner in the program and F-35-buyer Turkey may join the KF-X effort soon. Seoul wants the KF-X to carry locally developed air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and anti-ship missiles. That's right, a new fleet of stealth jets with new weapons in just nine years.
Keep in mind that South Korea is also looking at buying 40 to 60 Sukhoi PAK FAs, F-35s or F-15SE Silent Eagles under its F-X program which is supposed to kick off next year.
Click here for more info on the jet.
