With its status as a light fighter jet, the FA-50 Fighting Eagle with a population of 60 units is now the second tier fighter in the arsenal of the South Korean Air Force – Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF).
Realizing that this fighter has an important role for national air defense, plus it is popular in the export market, a number of upgrades are a blessing in itself for the existence of the FA-50. As in the weapons aspect, the FA-50 will be more lethal because it will be able to launch the KEPD-350 Taurus cruise missile.
Quoted from Aviationweek.com (18/10/2023), at the Seoul ADEX 2023/Seoul Airshow 2023 event, LIG Nex1 and Taurus Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a smaller version of the KEPD-350 Taurus cruise missile to be launched from fighter jets single-engine FA-50 produced by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
The cruise missile that will be installed on the FA-50 will be in the Medium-Range Air-Launched Cruise Missile (MALCM) category and will be labeled KEPD 350K-2.
Still from the same source, the KEPD 350K-2 weighs 2,000 pounds (around 907 kg) with a range of 250 miles (around 402 km). In terms of range, it is clear that the presence of this missile is prepared to put pressure on North Korea's air defenses.
The KEPD 350K-2 is the second joint development project between LIG Nex1 and Taurus, following their work on the successful KEPD-350K version launched in 2015.
For comparison, the KEPD-350K Taurus, which is now the mainstay weapon on the F-15K fighter jet, weighs 1.4 tons and can attack targets at a distance of 500 km. High value points and area targets are the characteristics of the features offered by Taurus. Objects such as underground bunkers, bridges, hanud missile launcher installations, and even docked warships can be destroyed from a distance.
From its weight of 1,400 kg, it contains a Mephisto warhead (Multi-Effect Penetrator, High Sophisticated and Target Optimized) weighing 480 kg
#SeoulADEX Taurus Systems (JV @byMBDA/@Saab) dévoile le missile KEPD 350K-2, version « light » du KEPD 350K
— Nathan Gain (@nthn_gn) October 17, 2019
➡️Conçu pour intégration sur le FA-50 de KAI
➡️Portée 400 km, poids inférieur à 1100 kg, charge utile ~300 kg pic.twitter.com/ESnHXg1HXu
The Taurus KEPD 350 used by the South Korean Air Force basically has more sophisticated capabilities than the German and Spanish Taurus KEPD, because the South Korean Taurus is equipped with a Rockwell Collins GPS receiver with a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) to anticipate GPS jamming.
Because it received a special order from South Korea, Taurus Systems GmBH, which is headquartered in Germany, gave up creating a Taurus production base in South Korea, and the company name became Taurus Systems Korea Co., Ltd.
In October 2015 Taurus Systems introduced a smaller Taurus variant codenamed 350K-2. The smaller Taurus is expected by South Korea to be installed on smaller fighter jets, such as the FA-50. Due to its smaller size, the Taurus 350K-2's shooting range has dropped to 400 km, and its cruising speed is Mach 0.6 – Mach 0.9.
Taurus Systems Korea President Christoffer Drevstad said that development of the KEPD 350K-2 will take less than three years, making it easier for KAI to include the munition as part of its FA-50 light fighter armament portfolio in export sales, in addition to its main market for supplying the Air Force. South Korea.
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An unnamed industry source said that there is a possibility that the KEPD 350K-2 will use higher-end local components, such as navigation systems, guidance, warheads and turbofan engines in the KEPD 350K-2 will be made by South Korean companies, one of which is to evading the strict export controls of the German and US governments.