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03/10/2017

India, China Turn Over New Leaf http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38258-india-china-turn-over-new-leaf.html

There was a deadlock in Doklam but we resolved the issue through dialogue.

There was a deadlock in Doklam but we resolved the issue through dialogue.

Moving away from the Doklam crisis, both India and China on Saturday expressed confidence of amicably resolving border issues and building a new chapter in their relationship.

Soon after the Chinese envoy to India, Luo Zhaohui, said that the time was right for the two countries to "turn a new chapter" in ties and "dance together", Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh praised the positive approach of the two countries while solving the Doklam crisis and hoped to completely resolve the border issues through structural dialogue.

There was a deadlock in Doklam but we resolved the issue through dialogue. Both India and China shared a positive approach," Singh said, while addressing the ITBP jawans during the Dussehra celebrations in Uttarakhand's Joshimath, close to the China border.

Singh also visited ITBP's Rimkhim post near the India-China border.

In an indirect reference to the 73-day Doklam standoff in Bhutan, Ambassador Zhaohui made a strong pitch for renewing Indo-China ties by using the idiom that "India and China should make one plus one equal to eleven".

We should turn the old page and start a new chapter with the same pace and same direction," Zhaohui said, while speaking on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of founding of the People's Republic of China.

Referring to the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Xiamen earlier this month, Zhaohui said both leaders sent out a clear message regarding the need to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas and to strengthen their ties.

China is the largest trading partner of India. We have made a lot of progress at the bilateral level, as well as in international and regional affairs. I am quite sure that with joint efforts, we will be able to focus on cooperation, handle the differences properly, enhance mutual trust, and move forward and take our relations to a new height," Ambassador Zhaohui said.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406236-india-china-turn-over-new-leaf

03/10/2017

India Refused To Sponsor UN Reform Meet http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38257-india-refused-to-sponsor-un-reform-meet.html

As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the UN General Assembly last week for the third consecutive year, India’s disappointment at the slow pace of the Security Council reforms could be sensed.

On September 18, there was a meeting here on UN reform. I participated.

As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the UN General Assembly last week for the third consecutive year, India’s disappointment at the slow pace of the Security Council reforms could be sensed.

On September 18, there was a meeting here on UN reform. I participated. I witnessed an evident desire for change, to do something. But I do want to remind you that at the 2005 World Summit, there was a consensus that the early reform of the Security Council is an essential element of our overall effort to reform the UN,” said Swaraj.

It has now come to light that an upset India was unwilling to co-sponsor the political declaration of the UN Reform Meet called on September 18 in New York.

A diplomatic note dated August 30 issued by the US mission to the UN that The Tribune accessed read: “The United States mission to the UN presents its compliments to permanent missions to the UN and has the honour to invite, in collaboration with the permanent missions of Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovakia, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Uruguay, each mission to join the UN Reform Political Declaration supporting the Secretary-General’s reform efforts.

The note added: “Heads of delegation of the member states who join the UN Reform Political Declaration will be invited to attend a UN Reform Event on the morning of Monday, September 18.

Indian official sources say the US wanted the meeting to focus on UN and not Security Council reforms, to which India objected. India had issues with the agenda for the meet not being circulated for consultation. New Delhi thereby intimated that it would participate in the meeting but not be a co-sponsor to the declaration.

A subsequent revised diplomatic note (EXEC 2017-40) was then issued by the US mission to UN dated September 12, with all previous countries mentioned in the first note as co-sponsors, barring India and China.

In fact the 10-point political declaration spoke of strengthening the Secretary-General’s office, cooperation between member states, but had no mention of expediting the Security Council reforms.

President Donald Trump has talked of restricting US aid to the UN and the need for the global body to be reformed and streamlined. But for countries like India, aspiring for a seat on the high table, any reforms will be meaningless without an expansion of the Security Council to reflect the changed global realities.

Swaraj underlined the same in her UNGA speech. Efforts at text-based negotiations on the reform and expansion of the Security Council were initiated in the last session and over 160 nations expressed support for this effort. If we are serious, then the least we can do is produce one text that can be the basis for negotiation. I hope that under your enlightened leadership, Mr President, this will become a priority,” she had said.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406235-india-refused-to-sponsor-un-reform-meet

03/10/2017

PAK SCAN: The Nuclear Dimension http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38256-pak-scan-the-nuclear-dimension.html

spoke harshly about Pakistan; but he has not yet imposed sanctions, as has been the case with Iran, nor threatened to “totally destroy” it, like North Korea. kistani diplomats believe there is room to maintain a working if not a cosy relationship with Washington.

That remains to be seen.

spoke harshly about Pakistan; but he has not yet imposed sanctions, as has been the case with Iran, nor threatened to “totally destroy” it, like North Korea. kistani diplomats believe there is room to maintain a working if not a cosy relationship with Washington.

That remains to be seen. Islamabad disagrees with the ‘new’ US strategy concerning Afghanistan. will not fight Afghanistan’s war on its soil. It will continue to oppose an expanded Indian role in Afghanistan. It wants a political settlement between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban, rather than continued conflict, and coordinated action to eliminate the militant Islamic State group and Al Qaeda, as well as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Jamaatul Ahrar and the Baluchistan Liberation Army, that operate from safe havens in Afghanistan.

Even if Pakistan and the US are able to reconcile their divergent positions on Afghanistan, the emerging strategic alignments that will shape policies in Asia are unlikely to change. The US has chosen India as its major strategic partner in Asia to counter the rising power of China. The resulting escalation in the Indian threat to Pakistan’s security is either irrelevant for the US or part of its strategic plan to weaken Pakistan’s opposition to Indo-US regional domination. e recent visit of the US defence secretary to India has confirmed and reinforced their strategic alliance and intention to collaborate in Afghanistan.

Without its nuclear and missile capabilities, Pakistan would have been sanctioned like Iran.

Pakistan’s ability to resist Indian diktat and to disagree with America’s strategic design flows from one principal source: its nuclear and missile capabilities. thout this, Pakistan would have been attacked like Iraq or sanctioned like Iran. On the other hand, North Korea, despite its isolation, has been able to thumb its nose at America because of its demonstrated nuclear and missile prowess.

An Islamic nuclear power was always anathema for America and much of the Western world. The US worked ceaselessly — even when Pakistan was a close ally — to re**rd and reverse its nuclear and missile programmes. is endeavour has intensified since the emergence of the American alliance with India. Apart from the discriminatory technological and political restrictions it has long imposed against Pakistan’s strategic programmes, the US now demands that Pakistan unilaterally halt fissile material production and the development and deployment of short- and long-range nuclear-capable missiles. Meanwhile, it is actively assisting India in enlarging and modernising its nuclear arsenal, its missile and anti-ballistic missile capabilities, its air and naval forces, as well as satellite and space capabilities.

There are credible and not-so-secret reports that the US has formulated plans to seize or destroy Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in a crisis. American think tanks have concocted scenarios of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or, even more absurdly, of the Pakistan Army turning into an ‘extremist’ or ‘jihadi’ force. such scary scenarios could be engineered as an excuse to execute the ‘seize or destroy’ plans.

Matters are more likely to come to a head in the event of another war between Pakistan and India. Kashmir is an ongoing dispute and a nuclear flashpoint. Every India-Pakistan war game confirms the likelihood of a rapid escalation of a conflict to the nuclear level due to the asymmetry in conventional forces. A war should thus be unthinkable. Yet, India’s political and military leaders continue to speak of ‘surgical strikes’ and a ‘limited’ war against Pakistan. does ever decide to go to war with Pakistan, it would have to first conduct a pre-emptive strike to eliminate Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence capabilities. Or, would the US be prepared to do so on India’s behalf? Pakistan must be prepared for both contingencies.

Islamabad must presume that in the course of its past (ill-considered) ‘cooperation’ with the US to enhance the ‘safety and security’ of Pakistan’s nuclear assets, the US has gained considerable intelligence about Pakistan’s strategic assets. akistani officials correctly discount America’s ability to seize Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. ese are too many, and too widely dispersed and well protected, thus not amenable to any seizure or strike. But nuclear delivery systems are more difficult to hide and protect.

In a crisis, it is the delivery systems that will be the prime target of a pre-emptive strike. These are most likely to be detected when, in a crisis, they are being ‘mated’ with the separately stored warheads. rthermore, as revealed during the current Korean drama, missile launches can be sabotaged by cyber attacks and other technical means.

In the emerging strategic scenario, nuclear deterrence is Pakistan’s ultimate assurance against external aggression and coercion.

Pakistan needs to take several measures so that the credibility of its nuclear deterrence is assured. One, the massive deployment of artillery and short-range missiles (à la North Korea) as the first line of conventional deterrence and defence against an Indian Cold Start attack. This would deter Indian attack and also raise the nuclear threshold. Two, the multiplication of long-, medium- and short-range nuclear-capable missiles to ensure the pe*******on of any ballistic missile defence systems that India deploys. Three, the continued production of fissile materials to provide warheads for the enlarged missile force.

Then, there is the need to ‘mate’ at least some warheads with delivery vehicles, their dispersal and disguise, or protection in hardened silos, to respond to a pre-emptive strike. entually, submarine-launched ballistic missiles could provide an assured second-strike capability. Five, the deployment of effective air defence systems plus a limited number of advanced (and expensive) anti-ballistic missile systems to protect command and control centres. Six, the development of offensive and defensive cyber-warfare capabilities.

Following this, Pakistan needs the acquisition and deployment of early-warning capabilities — satellites, surveillance aircraft and drones.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406234-pak-scan-the-nuclear-dimension

03/10/2017

India-China Annual Border Meeting Cancelled After No Invite From Beijing http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38255-india-china-annual-border-meeting-cancelled-after-no-invite-from-beijing.html

The annual ceremonial meeting was to be hosted by China and conducted at the five designated BPM points across the breadth of the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) — the de facto boundary between the two countries along the Himalayan ridgeline.

China has not sent an invite for the BPM on October 1,” a senior functionary confirmed. At the last such scheduled ceremonial BPM on August 15 — at the peak of a stand-off between the two countries at Bhutan’s Doklam — troops on both sides exchanged sweets.

Beijing’s move comes just four weeks after the two neighbours ended the 73-day military stand-off. It will be keenly analysed in South Block — the seat of power in New Delhi. Security and strategic affairs mandarins in capitals like Tokyo, Islamabad, Washington DC and Moscow will also be watching the move.

At ceremonial BPMs, Brigadier-level officers from both sides lead the delegations. The meetings are different from flag-meetings conducted to lodge protests of transgressions.

Ceremonial meetings are events for armed troops of either side to know each other socially. Normally, there is a lunch hosted and a cultural show. Mostly, the spouses and children of top officers also join in.

There are five such meeting points along the LAC and ceremonial meetings are hosted at all these points, Depsang in sub-sector north and Sappangur Gap (both on eastern Ladakh), Nathu La in Sikkim and Bumla and Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh.

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Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406233-india-china-annual-border-meeting-cancelled-after-no-invite-from-beijing

03/10/2017

India Can Ignore Violence-Torn Islamic World’s J K Resolution http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38254-india-can-ignore-violence-torn-islamic-world-s-j-k-resolution.html

A five-member ‘Contact Group’ of the 57-member ‘Organisation of Islamic Alliance’—comprising Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Ivory Coast and Niger—met earlier this month in New York. yet another statement on Jammu and Kashmir.

A five-member ‘Contact Group’ of the 57-member ‘Organisation of Islamic Alliance’—comprising Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Ivory Coast and Niger—met earlier this month in New York. yet another statement on Jammu and Kashmir. The statement echoed Pakistani propaganda, referring to UN Resolutions of no contemporary relevance, while proposing to send a “fact finding” mission to the state. w Delhi rejected the statement as “factually incorrect and misleading”, while asserting the group had no locus standi, on India’s internal affairs.

Most people across the world would not know where Azerbaijan, Ivory Coast and Niger are located. While Saudi Arabia pays lip service to such moves, it has become more forthcoming in relations with India, even on issues like terrorism. Turkey, led by Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, remains implacably hostile. Erdogan’s pretensions lead him to poke his nose into the internal affairs of countries ranging from the Philippines and Myanmar to Syria and Iraq. He conveniently forgets that Turkey was responsible for the first genocide of the 20th century—the killing of 1. million of its Armenian citizens—in the early 1920s.

Just before Erdogan’s recent visit to India, New Delhi drew attention to Turkey’s illegal occupation of one third of Cyprus since 1974. ime Minister Modi reiterated India’s unwavering and consistent support for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Republic of Cyprus, while meeting with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, in New Delhi. The Turkish occupation of Cyprus in European Union territory is viewed as illegal in International Law, Oddly, even while Erdogan pontificates on human rights, he has arrested 7,028 members of the Turkish armed forces, including 164 Generals and Admirals; 2,385 judges, including two from the Supreme Court; and 95 Governors and Deputy Governors, apart from thousands of teachers, lawyers and others. These arrests took place even as ruthless attacks by Turkey’s Army and Air Force on the country’s Kurdish population continued. esident Erdogan would be well advised to remember that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

It is also ironical that the Resolution of the OIC Contact Group came at a time of internal rivalries, bloodletting and turmoil, across the Islamic world. India has wisely kept away from these sectarian, civilisational and leadership rivalries, as it is primarily concerned with peace, stability and economic progress in the region, extending from Iran to Turkey. In Yemen alone, the civil war, with rival factions backed by Saudi Arabia and Iran, has led to three million people being displaced, 8,000 killed and over a million children malnourished and near starvation. The Syrian conflict, with Iran and Hezbollah backing the Asad Government, and Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arabs backing various armed opposition groups, has resulted in an estimated 500,000 people killed and 6. 1 million displaced, with 4. 8 million seeking refuge abroad.

While Turkey has continuously been at war with its Kurdish population, tensions between the Kurds and Arabs is mounting in Iraq, with the Kurds who enjoy considerable autonomy seeking independence. Of greater concern to India has been the discord between Qatar, backed by Turkey on the one hand, and its fellow Gulf Arab neighbours Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, on the other. Kuwait has endeavoured to act as a mediator in this dispute, with American backing, with little success thus far. Given these rivalries, India can ignore the Turkish-backed Pakistan effort to activate the OIC, aiming to fulfil Pakistan’s territorial ambitions. Fifteen thousand Baloch freedom fighters and civilians have lost their lives in Baluchistan. The Pakistan Army and Air Force have displaced eight lakh Pashtuns from their homes and killed 3,000, in the country’s tribal areas. These are actions the Baloch and Pashtuns will neither forget, nor forgive.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406232-india-can-ignore-violence-torn-islamic-world-s-j-k-resolution

03/10/2017

Ambala, Hasimara IAF Bases Being Readied For Rafale Jets http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38253-ambala-hasimara-iaf-bases-being-readied-for-rafale-jets.html

The Indian Air Force has initiated major infrastructure upgrade at its frontline base here for deployment of the first squadron of the Rafale jets which will give India greater "potency" over Pakistan as these will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons and other missiles.

The government has already sanctioned Rs 220 crore to set up 14 shelters, hangers and maintenance facilities at the 78- year-old base for the Rafale jets whose delivery is scheduled to begin from September, 2019, a senior IAF official said.

We are creating infrastructure keeping in mind infrastructure requirement for the Rafale jets for next 40-50 years," the official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media.

The Ambala base is considered one of the most strategically located bases of the IAF as the Indo-Pak border is around 220 km from it. Currently, the base has two squadrons of the Jaguar combat aircraft and one squadron of the MiG-21 Bison.

Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh, who passed away two weeks ago, was the first commander of the Ambala base in independent India.

Several teams from French defence major Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale, have already visited the Ambala air force base and finalised the requirement for the first squadron of combat jets.

The IAF is also carrying out infrastructure upgrade at its Hasimara base in West Bengal which will house the second squadron of the Rafale jets, the official said.

In September last year, India had signed a Euro 7. 87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. Eighteen Rafale jets will be deployed in Ambala while an equal number of the new generation jet will be stationed in Hasimara.

We are planning to put in place all required infrastructure for Rafale squadron by end of next year," said the IAF official.

The Ambala as well as Hasimara stations will also have simulator-based training facilities for the air crew of Rafale jets. The IAF has already selected a batch of pilots to fly the jets and they are being given training by Dassault Aviation in France.

The Rafale squadron to be deployed in Ambala will be known as Golden Arrows which was originally based in Bhatinda and was disbanded two years ago.

The Rafale combat jets will come with various India- specific modifications including Israeli helmet mounted displays, radar warning receivers, low band jammers, 10 hour flight data recording and infra-red search and tracking systems among others.

The features that make the Rafale a strategic weapon in the hands of IAF, which is currently down to 34 squadrons as against a sanctioned strength of 44, includes its Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Meteor air-to-air missile with a range of 150 KM.

Its integration on the Rafale jets will mean IAF can hit targets inside both Pakistan and across the northern and eastern borders while staying within India's territorial boundary.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406231-ambala-hasimara-iaf-bases-being-readied-for-rafale-jets

03/10/2017

Rumors of Secret Warplanes Preceded Mach 6 SR-72 Spyplane Reveal http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38252-rumors-of-secret-warplanes-preceded-mach-6-sr-72-spyplane-reveal.html

Lockheed Martin’s 2013 announcement of a proposed SR-72 reconnaissance and strike drone comes against a backdrop of decades of rumour about a replacement for America’s high-speed SR-71 spy plane. e SR-72 reportedly appeared for the first time in plain view in July 2017.

Lockheed Martin’s 2013 announcement of a proposed SR-72 reconnaissance and strike drone comes against a backdrop of decades of rumour about a replacement for America’s high-speed SR-71 spy plane. e SR-72 reportedly appeared for the first time in plain view in July 2017.

Since the early 1990s, there have been reports of mysterious sonic booms, unidentified aircraft sightings and a mysterious aircraft on a wall chart at Lockheed Martin.

The existence of an early replacement for the SR-71—which was permanently retired in 1998—has never been verified. iation buffs call the apparently mythical plane Aurora. It’s the Bigfoot of the aviation world.

The story of Aurora began in 1990, when Aviation Week & Space Technology mentioned that “Aurora” had been a line item in the U. defense budget in 1986 for “black aircraft production. Aurora funding allegedly reached $2. 3 billion in 1986, prompting speculation that a replacement for the SR-71 was in the works.

The name stuck, and the chase was on. But was it an Aurora chase, or a wild goose chase?

In 1988, The New York Times reported that a successor to the SR-71 was being developed—one capable of flying at Mach 5. The SR-71 was pulled out of service two years later and made a brief comeback in the late 1990s.

In the early ’90s, a series of mysterious sonic booms began rattling the California coastline, noises that defied easy explanation. To this day, sonic booms are still reported across swathes of southern California. One such report from April 2009 was investigated by the local press, which could find no explanation for it.

Many are undoubtedly from natural phenomena, such as meteorites entering Earth’s atmosphere. But some of these sonic booms are obviously from run-of-the-mill military sources. And Aurora watchers have their own explanation. The booms are from Aurora returning to bases in southern California after flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Whatever was creating the sonic booms, they were picked up by California’s earthquake monitoring network. Designed to record tremors in the Earth, seismographs monitored by the U. S. Geological Survey have inadvertently picked up the booms. In 2001, a paper produced at the the California Institute of Technology ‘s Graduate Aeronautical Labs analyzed the booms and concluded that whatever they were, they came from some unknown, offshore event.

The regularity begs two questions. If the sonic booms are a natural phenomenon, why were they suddenly occurring now? Second, if the booms were made by the U. S. military, as they occasionally are, why is the military unable to explain them?

There have also been sightings of mysterious aircraft attributed to Aurora. In 1989, Chris Gibson, a veteran plane watcher and former member of the Royal Observer Corps, reported seeing a mysterious aircraft while stationed on an oil rig in the North Sea. Gibson reported the aircraft resembled an isosceles triangle and was accompanied by a KC-135 tanker aircraft.

In 1992, aviation enthusiast Stephen Douglass photographed what came to be known as “donuts on a rope” contrails. e unusual contrails were said to be accompanied by an unusual, pulsating engine roar. Both have been attributed by Aurora buffs to the use of pulse-detonated wave engine technology allegedly used by Aurora to achieve hypersonic speeds.

In 1992, Aviation Week reported that military-monitoring hobbyists had listened in on an exchange between Edwards Air Force Base and an unknown, high-altitude aircraft identified as “Gaspipe. Edwards aircraft controllers could be overheard advising “Gaspipe” that it was being tracked at 67,000 feet—far above the normal operating altitude of military aircraft, where flight crews of the U-2 and SR-71 typically wear pressurized flight suits. Air Force confirmed that neither U-2 nor SR-71 aircraft were being controlled at those times.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406230-rumors-of-secret-warplanes-preceded-mach-6-sr-72-spyplane-reveal

03/10/2017

Why North Korea Should Fear South Korea's Air Force http://ecroaker.com/index.php/breaking-news/item/38251-why-north-korea-should-fear-south-korea-s-air-force.html

After a large army, the second most important arm of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces has historically been the country’s air force.

After a large army, the second most important arm of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces has historically been the country’s air force. The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) is the most powerful air force on the Korean Peninsula, with a capability far greater than its northern rival, providing air cover and support to ground forces defending south of the thirty-eighth parallel. Recently, the air force has taken on a new task as Seoul shapes a conventional force to deter North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

South Korea had little to no air force to speak of during the Korean War, but afterward the country was trained and equipped to a high standard. In any North/South rematch the ROKAF could count on facing off against a Korean People’s Army Air Force trained by North Korea’s patrons, equipped with some of the latest communist bloc fighter jets. part of the postwar air force building process the ROKAF was injected with 122 F-86 and RF-86 Sabre jets, the same flown by American pilots during the war.

The rapid growth of the South Korean economy meant newer, larger fleets of fighters could afforded on a regular basis. The F-86 fleet gave way to the F-5A/B Freedom Fighter jets in 1965. Developed for the export market by Northrop and widely adopted by America’s allies from Norway to the Philippines, the F-5 was the F-16 (or MiG-21) of its time, a A total of 214 F-5s, including a home-built version, were introduced to the air force up until 1986.

In the late 1960s, South Korea began expanding its fighter fleet into twin-engine jets with the purchase of second-hand F-4D Phantom II fighters. The ROKAF traded away thirty-six F-5A/B jets for eighteen F-4Ds, and eventually acquired ninety-two F-4Ds. Some of these aircraft were brought up to the -E standard, which combined with second-hand -E planes from U. S. Air Force brought the country’s F-4E total to 103. The Phantom II was also the first South Korean aircraft to have precision attack capabilities: the F-4D was equipped with Pave Spike day attack and the F-4E with Pave Tack day/night attack laser targeting pods. Thirty six F-4Es were modified to carry the Israeli Popeye precision-guided missile.

Today, the ROKAF consists of sixty-one F-15K “Slam Eagle” fighters and 169 F-16C/D Fighting Falcon fighters, along with 158 F-5s and seventy-one F-4 jets. 50 jets, developed by Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin, are being built for ground attack and jet trainer roles. The ROKAF also has forty F-35A Joint Strike Fighters on order, and may order even more.

The F-15K “Slam Eagle” is a descendant of the U. Air Force’s multi-role F-15E “Strike Eagle”, and is capable of both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. F-15K has a number of enhancements over the F-15E: the F-15K has an AN/APG-63 (V)1 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, infra-red search and track capability, a helmet-mounted cueing system, and like the F-16 carries the AIM-120 AMRAAM medium range air to air missile and Sidewinder short range missiles. It can also carry the SLAM-ER precision attack missile, descended from the Harpoon anti-ship missile. The latest, newest munition carried by the F-15K is the Ta**us KEDP-350K cruise missile. The German-made missile has a penetrating warhead for striking hardened targets and is a key part of South Korea’s Kill Chain and Korea Massive Punishment and Deterrence contingency plans for dealing with the North in a crisis. The Ta**us has a range of 310 miles, giving it the ability to strike most of North Korea, including Pyongyang, while fired south of the DMZ. The ROKAF has between 170 and 180 missiles on order.

South Korea’s fleet of F-16C/Ds many of which were built domestically by Korean Aerospace Industries, are capable of precision strikes with LANTIRN targeting pods and air-to-air combat with AIM-120 AMRAAM medium range and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The F-16s can also carry AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) for air defense suppression missions.

In addition to fighters, South Korea has steadily built up its fleet of support aircraft. Four “Peace Eye” aircraft—converted Boeing 737s—provide the country with its first airborne early warning aircraft capability. Eye is equipped with the Northrop Grumman Mechanically Scanned Array radar system, which can detect aerial targets at two hundred miles and small boats at 150 miles. The country has a requirement for two more planes. The ROKAF also has eight Raytheon Hawker 800XP spy aircraft that can take pictures of installations up to fifty miles from the DMZ while also performing signals intelligence collection tasks. The service also has an impressive fleet of CH-47 Chinook, S-70, and S-92 helicopters for combat search and rescue missions. The close nature of the threat means South Korea has no aerial refueling tankers in its inventory.

South Korea, in partnership with Indonesia, is also developing its first indigenous fighter aircraft. Known as KFX, the fighter will be a “4. generation fighter”—halfway between 4th generation planes such as the F-16C and new ones like the F-35A. deed, mockups of the KFX resemble both planes. KFX will be a multi-role aircraft capable of performing both jet fighter and attack duties. South Korea plans to build at least 120 of the planes to replace older F-4 and F-5 aircraft. Initial operating capability was rather optimistically set for 2020, but the aircraft will only hit the design phase in 2018, making 2025 (or later) a more goal.

Finally, the ROKAF is set to acquire four RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance drones. The Global Hawk drones are a key plank of a sensor network set to watch North Korea for advance warning of missile launches. The sale was approved by the Department of Defense in December 2014 with deliveries set for 2018.

The Republic of Korea Air Force is well positioned to counter its primary—and only—adversary, North Korea. ile the North’s Korean People’s Air Force has withered under decades of economic stagnation the ROKAF has thrived, blossoming into a balanced, modern air force. e ROKAF can handily perform the full spectrum of missions it could be assigned in a second Korean War, from close air support to performing decapitation strikes against the North Korean leadership. It is a powerful, credible conventional deterrent to war.

Read more http://theindiansubcontinent.com/defense/item/406228-why-north-korea-should-fear-south-korea-s-air-force