South Korea to Sell Light Combat Aircraft to Guatemala

[GAFES]

Korea to Sell Light Combat Aircraft to Guatemala




By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The military is considering selling its A-50 advanced light attack aircraft to Guatemala, officials at the Defense Ministry said Friday. During a recent meeting with Hwang Kyu-sik, vice defense minister, in Guatemala City, Guatemalan Defense Minister Francisco Bermudez expressed keen interest in purchasing the fighter version of the Air Force's T-50 supersonic jet trainer, officials said.

Hwang visited Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil from March 26 to April 5 for discussions on military cooperation with the Central and South American nations.

The A-50 is the modified, armed version of the T-50 co-developed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute and U.S. aircraft maker Lockheed Martin. The T-50, dubbed ``Golden Eagle,'' is designed to provide pilot training for current and next-generation combat aircraft such as the F-16, F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the fifth generation fighter jet equipped with radar-evading stealth technology.

The main differences between the A-50 and the T-50 are the addition of armaments and an all-weather, day and night multimode fire control radar. It can carry sophisticated air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, including AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface guided missiles.

The Air Force successfully test-fired the air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles last November and this February Last December, the KAI delivered the first two T-50s to the Air Force, which requires 50 T-50s and 44 A-50s. The T-50 is to be deployed in the military by 2007. Deliveries of the A-50 will begin in 2009.

[DeltaWhisky58]

I have altered the thread title to reflect that there are two states - North Korea and South Korea - worlds apart and highly relevant to the topic under discussion..

[DanteXavier]

Awesome, nice to see that plane going somewhere. I always have liked those little jet trainer planes. They've always looked really cool to me.

[SerbPVO]

I have altered the thread title to reflect that there are two states - North Korea and South Korea - worlds apart and highly relevant to the topic under discussion..

Hopefully, there will be ONE KOREA soon.

[Lefty]

Sadly, I'm not placing bets any time soon SerbPVO.

Interesting to see all the hardware filtering into S America these days though (Sukhois to Mexico, AKs to Venezuala etc), probably something to keep and eye on. Does Guatemala currently have any fighters, only aircraft I've seen them with are old Texans.

[GAFES]

The Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca is a relatively small air force. It has relied mostly on US aircraft types during its history. The F-51 Mustang, C-47 Dakota, T-33 and Huey are typical examples of FAG equipment. Some of these aircraft still serve the FAG today, the C-47 Dakota for example, albeit in the Turboprop variant. The A-37 is FAG's prime jet aircraft and PC-7s and T-35s are used for training. Some Fokkers and Aravas carry out transport augmenting the Dakotas mentioned before. Helicopters in use are Bell 206 and 212.

http://www.scramble.nl/gt.htm

Guatemala with these Jets would be on the top of the Mexican Air Force, this would be really awkward, since Guatemala is 10 times poorer than Mexico. Something the Mexican Army High command should take a look at.

[Balam]

The Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca is a relatively small air force. It has relied mostly on US aircraft types during its history. The F-51 Mustang, C-47 Dakota, T-33 and Huey are typical examples of FAG equipment. Some of these aircraft still serve the FAG today, the C-47 Dakota for example, albeit in the Turboprop variant. The A-37 is FAG's prime jet aircraft and PC-7s and T-35s are used for training. Some Fokkers and Aravas carry out transport augmenting the Dakotas mentioned before. Helicopters in use are Bell 206 and 212.

http://www.scramble.nl/gt.htm

Guatemala with these Jets would be on the top of the Mexican Air Force, this would be really awkward, since Guatemala is 10 times poorer than Mexico. Something the Mexican Army High command should take a look at.

The Mexican Air Force was quite similar to the Guatemalan AF, a couple a decades ago, since they had T-33 as their Top jet, now they have aviojets, and other attack planes, while Guatemalan Air Force get stuck whit the A-37 (It´s a magnificient aircraft indeed but not qualify as a combat one ).

I didn´t hear anything about the purchase of those Koreans fighters, as far I know, they´re trying to get some AA tech for air defence whit the US or maybe Israel.

[KingoftheHill]

What's the update on this?

They also may be interested in the A-29 that Brasil and Colombia has.

[AztecMex]

It would be really interesting to see those planes in the FAG.But all tho sad cuz then u you expect to see mexico with something better .Well sometimes its what you least expect that happens.

[KingoftheHill]

It would be really interesting to see those planes in the FAG.But all tho sad cuz then u you expect to see mexico with something better .Well sometimes its what you least expect that happens.

cough*10 F-5s*cough

[DANJANOU]

Not only the Mexican’s may find this less than good news, but also the Hondurans and the Belize Defence Force. Guatemala and Honduras haven’t been always the best of neighbours if I remember and there is/was a trade war of sorts between the two Caribbean ports of Puerto Barrios (Guatemala) and Puerto Cortez (Honduras).

As far as Guatemala is (was?) concerned Belize is just the breakaway province of Belice, not an independent country. I think the last time they had a little border skirmish was Nov 2001. The BDF air element ain’t that great either as I recall.

[KingoftheHill]

Not only the Mexican’s may find this less than good news, but also the Hondurans and the Belize Defence Force. Guatemala and Honduras haven’t been always the best of neighbours if I remember and there is/was a trade war of sorts between the two Caribbean ports of Puerto Barrios (Guatemala) and Puerto Cortez (Honduras).

As far as Guatemala is (was?) concerned Belize is just the breakaway province of Belice, not an independent country. I think the last time they had a little border skirmish was Nov 2001. The BDF air element ain’t that great either as I recall.

Belize had BN-2 Defenders, and IIRC a British garrison there.

[DANJANOU]

Belize had BN-2 Defenders, and IIRC a British garrison there.

Not much of a garrison these days. Usually a Battalion sized battle group doing jungle warfare training in the south near Punta Gorda. At least that was the extent of their force there in 2001 when I went through. and I've never heard of any increase of late.

The land element of the BDF is about 1,000 tops basically 2 small infantry battalions ith no heavy arty or armour. Their airwing is a few helios and light fixed wing transport/liaison aircraft.

A far cry from when they kept a force of infantry, arty, light armour and a few Harriers as well as some SAS types there in the 1981-1994.

I think the plan is if Belize is threatened then the Brits will come a running, like in the Falklands, but how long will it take the RMs and Paras to get there.

It's about a 2-3 hour drive from the Guatemalan border to Belize City on the coast and slightly less to the one airport that can handle large transport aircraft west of the city.

http://www.bdf.bz/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize_Defence_Force

[Balam]

Belize doesn´t have a significant force, it´s defence it´s completely based on the british support.

[Ordie]

It begs the question on why purchase the A-50? Being the launch customer is not a good thing in dealing with the bugs. IMO Guatemala could do much better with the Korean KO-1 aircraft.

Belize's increase of tourism spills over into Guatemala with day trips to Tikal and the colonial city of Antigua.

I would rather spend the money in crime prevention and enforcement than supersonic jets.