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T/A-50 drops tank
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Iraq may be on track to become the first export customer for South Korea’s T-50 Golden Eagle family of supersonic jet trainers and lightweight fighters.

DJ Elliott of the Long War Journal says that the A-50 was suggested in fall 2007 to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, by MNSTC-I’s Coalition Air Force Transition Team. Iraq’s pending trainer aircraft purchase appears to be Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6 Texan II, but a jet trainer is required as an interim step between the T-6 and more advanced planes like the F-16s that Iraq is seeking. Depending on their installed equipment, these aircraft could also serve as F-16 supplements.

While the loss of the 48-plane UAE deal has stung KAI, the Iraqi deal took a big step forward recently…

• T/A-50s and the Region
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings

T/A-50s and the Region

Iranian Saegheh
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The T-50 family comes in a number of variants, from pure T-50 jet trainers, to a T/A-50 trainer that can act as a secondary fighter, to the full F/A-50 version that’s began serious development in late 2008.

A purchase of T/A-50s with their APG-67v4 radars, advanced Sidewinder missiles, and ability to carry precision guided weapons would effectively offer Iraq its first jet fighters. A T/A-50 would have to depend on superior situational awareness and piloting if confronted by Syrian or Iranian MiG-29s, but their induction would give Iraq qualitative parity or better versus many of the fighters currently flown by its semi-hostile neighbors: Syria’s MiG-21/ MiG-23/ Su-22s, and Iran’s F-4E/ F-5 variants/ F-7 MiG-21 variants. In a volatile region where hayba counts, those kinds of perceptions matter.

So, too, do personal ties. South Korea sent a 3,600-strong contingent to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in September 2004 as part of the U.S.-led coalition, and a total of 18,000 South Korean troops served in rotation around northern Iraq until the end of their deployment in 2008.

That work was apparently valuable in establishing ties, and the countries are now discussing ways to broaden their economic relationship as well as their defense relationship. A February 2009 agreement that opens Iraqi public infrastructure contracts to Korean firms, while securing ROK investment to develop some of the oil fields near Basra in southern Iraq, appears to have set that process in motion.

Contracts and Key Events

T-50 cockpit
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Feb 24/09: Iraq officially requests T-50 trainer jets during the Korea-Iraq summit in Seoul. The Korea Times reports:

“When the MOU was signed in late February, Talabani asked Lee to sell T-50 trainer jets and other advanced communication equipment to the Middle Eastern country,’’ a source close to the deal told The Korea Times, asking not to be named…. “Once the terms and conditions of the sale, including prices, are met, they agreed to include them in a binding contract,’’ he added.”

The 2 countries also struck a $3.55-billion deal to develop oil reserves in southern Iraq near Basra, a move that could double or even triple the amount of oil to which South Korea has assured access. At the same time, ROK President Lee Myung-bak and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give South Korean firms the right to participate in rebuilding projects inside Iraq. The Korea Times reports that Iraq plans to spend $150 billion on power plants and other forms of public infrastructure over the next 8 years.

Jan 15/09: Yonhap news agency and the World Tribune both file reports concerning Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi’s ongoing visit to South Korea. The minister was briefed concerning South Korea’s ongoing projects with Turkey, which include the K9/K10 Thunder mobile howitzer and the new XM2/Altay main battle tank.

Minister al-Obeidi also inspected the KAI/ Lockheed Martin T-50, and said that a defense expert in his entourage had recently test-flown the jet in Korea and expressed satisfaction. The Yonhap News Agency translation quotes him as saying that “The T-50 proved to us that South Korea has modern technology of an international standard.” Al-Obeidi added that more review would be required before the T-50 could be added to Iraq’s air force. Yonhap report | World Tribune.

Additional Readings

• DID FOCUS – Korea’s T-50 Spreads its Wings