South Korea is considering leasing second-hand F-16 fighter jets from the United States to fill a potential vacuum in its air power from delays in aircraft acquisition and development, a senior Air Force official here said Wednesday.
Seoul recently confirmed a plan to buy 40 F-35s by Lockheed Martin from 2018-21, scaling down from the initial program for 60 advanced combat aircraft, while pushing to develop midlevel fighter jets with a goal of deploying them between 2023 and 2025.
The move, however, falls short of replacing the aging fleet of 160 F-4s and F-5s, which are expected to be phased out in the next five years.
By 2019, about 60 FA-50 light fighter jets and the early batch of F-35s will be added to the existing fleet, which leaves about 80 jets falling short of the appropriate number of jets, according to the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA).
"The Air Force is considering leasing used combat jets as part of ways to provide the interim defense capability because replacement of aging F-4s and F-5s wouldn't take place in a timely manner," a senior Air Force official said, asking for anonymity. "As midlevel combat jets are mostly in shortage, the Air Force is considering renting 16 to 20 used F-16s from the U.S. Air Force."
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