These ageing planes have so far accounted for the lion’s share of accidents and aircraft losses, and they cannot be kept in operation beyond the period of 2018 to 2020. In addition, the South Korean Air Force possesses obsolescent third-generation F-4E Phantom II (68 aircraft, mostly handed down from the US Air Force) and F-5E/F Tiger II (170 aircraft, of which 68 were manufactured under licence by Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI)). This fighter is not expected to become operational before the mid-2020s. However, this is still at an early stage, and it is still to be decided whether the future jet fighter will have one or two engines. South Korea is currently implementing a national program aimed at designing a fifth-generation KF-X jet fighter, which Indonesia joined in 2010. Not only are these considerably better than the obsolete North Korean Air Force aircraft, but theoretically they are believed to be capable of countering more modern Chinese J-10s and replicas of the Sukhoi-27 family of aircraft.
It has at its disposal fourth-generation US F-15K Slam Eagle fighters (60 aircraft and one of the most recent modifications of the F-15E Strike Eagle) and F-16C/D Fighting Falcon (169 aircraft, of which 134 were assembled under licence by the South Korean KAI corporation). The South Korean Air Force has been recognized among the top ten air forces in the world, both in terms of the total number of aircraft and in combat capabilities.
At the moment, the leading international powers facea challenge in these areas since they need to replace Cold War fighters with more modern machinery. Aviation plays the key role in modern warfare, and every air force needs to have at its core multi-purpose fighters capable of carrying out such combat missions as achieving air superiority above land operations and delivering strikes at enemy ground targets.
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