The T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet
trainer successfully completed aerial gunfire testing recently. The
T-50 Golden Eagle is being developed by Korea Aerospace Industries
(KAI) for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) with technical
support from Lockheed Martin.
The supersonic T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer has
recently completed planned aerial gunfire testing. The T-50 Lead-In
Fighter Trainer version has a rapid-fire 20mm cannon for
air-to-ground and air-to-air gunnery training.
Ten test flights were conducted between Oct. 26, 2004, and Jan.
6, 2005, with gun firing conducted under a variety of flight
conditions, including three supersonic flights. Testing included
operation of the gun and ammo handling system, plus measurement of
vibration levels and adequacy of the gun bay gas purging
capability.
“The gun fire testing went very well,” said Maj.
Kang, Chol, one of the ROKAF test pilots for the gun firing
missions. “As expected, the acoustic and airframe vibrations
were very acceptable and low from the pilot’s perspective in
both front and rear cockpits. The flight test instrumentation also
confirmed low vibration levels.”
The test aircraft was the third Full Scale Development aircraft,
the first in the lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) configuration. The
LIFT version bridges the gap between initial pilot training and
operational training and differs from the T-50 advanced jet trainer
version with the addition of a multimode radar, gun and a full
weapons control system to the seven store stations.
The gun is an internally mounted, three-barrel, Gatling-type 20
mm cannon with a rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute and is
built by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. The ammo
system holds 205 rounds of ammunition. It is a lighter weight
version of the standard six-barrel M61 gun used on many fighters.
The gun will be used for both ground strafing and aerial gunnery
training.
The T-50 flight test program is approximately 70 percent
complete, with more than 800 flights completed since the start of
flight testing in August 2002.
The T-50 is the only supersonic trainer in development or
production. It has the performance, handling qualities, cockpit and
advanced systems necessary to train pilots to fly both
today’s advanced fighters and the next generation of combat
aircraft.
The T-50 Golden Eagle is being developed by KAI for the ROKAF.
Lockheed Martin is providing technical expertise for the FSD
program and is responsible for developing the T-50 avionics system,
flight control system and wings. KAI and Lockheed Martin have an
agreement for joint international marketing of the T-50. The
program entered the transition-to-production phase with initial
contract from the ROKAF awarded to KAI in December 2003. The first
production aircraft is expected to be delivered in late 2005.