KF-24 Huinmae

KF-24 Huinmae
	KF-24 Huinmae flies over Daegu city.
Role	Stealth aircraft; Multirole combat aircraft
National origin	Joseon
Manufacturer	Daesung Aerospace,. Inc.
First flight	12 June 2014; 10 years ago
Introduction	8 August 2017
Status	In service
Primary user	Royal Joseon Air Force; Royal Joseon Navy
Produced	2014-Present

The Daesung Aerospace KF-24 Huinmae is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth multirole combat aircraft designed for air superiority and strike missions. it also has electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Daesung Aerospace is the prime KF-24 contractor and manufacturer. Hanwha Aerospace was responsible for the aircraft's engine manufacturing and installation.

Like all other combat equipment and vehicles in the Royal Joseon Armed Forces, the KF-24 is also integrated into the Joseon's Battle Management System(BMS), 'Gongmyeong-2E,' sharing real-time information about battlefields and changes in conditions with other units and aircraft, vehicles, and ships.

Development

The KF-24 originated from the HETF-2(High-End Tactical Fighter-2) project, a project to develop multirole stealth fighter jets that can be used in a wider variety of missions. The new aircraft had to be affordable compared to the KF-23, but could be equipped with a variety of air-to-surface weapons and an appropriate level of air-to-air weapons. Like the KF-23 Chammae, the Navy wanted the KF-24 to have the capability to take off and land on the CATOBAR aircraft carrier.

The prototype of the KF-24 successfully completed its first flight in 2014, and 10 more prototype aircraft were built by 2015. To make up for the combat power vacuum during the KF-24's development, the Air Force and Navy introduced F-35 fighter jets, but the quantity was never large.

The KF-24 began deploying to the Air Force and Navy in 2017 without any particular trouble or difficulties. Currently, KF-24 maintains a production line, and FMS contracts and competitive bidding for exports are permitted on a limited basis.

Design

Avionics

The KF-24's AN/APG-05 radar can detect objects of size 1m^2 at a distance of 320km. This is lower than AN/APG-02, the radar of the KF-23 fighter jet. However, AN/APG-05 inherited the electronic warfare capabilities of AN/APG-02.

The active scanning radar AN/APG-02 uses 1,200 semiconductor microwave modules (T/W) with a maximum output of 8 watts and a weight of 20g to fire radar beams of different wavelengths. Launching radar beams of these different wavelengths makes it difficult for the enemy fighter's Radar Homing And Warning Receiver (RWR) to detect KF-24's radar operation, and KF-24 can Lock-on the enemy without the enemy knowing it.

AN/APG-05 is highly resistant to DRFM jammer attacks due to enhanced electronic protection capabilities, can organically change frequencies or patterns of radio waves, and radio algorithms are also very complex, reducing the risk of exposure to locations through radio backtracking by enemy ESM equipment or Passive radar. The AN/APG-05 radar can also detect smaller targets, such as inbound missiles and can track air targets beyond the range of the aircraft's air-to-air missiles.

In addition, the KF-24 is equipped with AN/APG-06 L-Band AESA radar on both main wings and tail wings to detect enemy stealth aircraft and is used in conjunction with each radar. In this way, KF-24 can detect enemy stealth aircraft by operating radars in various bands.

The KF-24 Chammae's EOTS is responsible for exploring the approximate location of enemy stealth targets detected by KF-24 using L-Band and X-Band radars in more detail, identifying detailed location information of enemy stealth targets, and guiding radar-guided missiles, including AIM-120D, to enemy stealth targets. The EOTS mounted on the KF-24 has a detection range of 150 kilometers, and if necessary, the KF-24 can perform BVR(Beyond-visual-range) air combat using only EOTS without radar operation.

Stealth

Stealth is a key aspect of the KF-24's design, and radar cross-section (RCS) is minimized through careful shaping of the airframe and the use of radar-absorbent materials (RAM), visible measures to reduce RCS include alignment of edges and continuous curvature of surfaces, serration of skin panels, and the masking of the engine face and turbine. Additionally, the KF-24's diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) uses a compression bump and forward-swept cowl rather than a splitter gap or bleed system to divert the boundary layer away from the inlet duct, eliminating the diverter cavity and further reducing radar signature. The RCS of the KF-24 has been characterized as lower than a metal golf ball at certain frequencies and angles.

The entire fuselage of the KF-24 is coated with absorbers made of metamaterial. Since the metamaterial can tailor the common waves such as light, electromagnetic waves, and sound waves, it can implement stealth capabilities for multiple bands of waves. The radio absorbers used in KF-24 are designed to ensure stealth capabilities for radar waves in the L-Band, S-Band, and UHF bands as well as X-Band. This allows KF-24 to implement stealth capabilities for radar propagation in all bands.

To disguise aircraft's RCS, the KF-24 can mount 4 Luneburg lens reflectors.

Helmet

The Vision Systems International helmet display is a key piece of the KF-24's human-machine interface. Instead of the head-up display mounted atop the dashboard of earlier fighters, the HMDS puts flight and combat information on the helmet visor, allowing the pilot to see it no matter which way they are facing. Infrared and night vision imagery from the Distributed Aperture System can be displayed directly on the HMDS and enables the pilot to "see through" the aircraft. The HMDS allows a KF-24 pilot to fire missiles at targets even when the nose of the aircraft is pointing elsewhere by cuing missile seekers at high angles off-boresight.

Armament

To preserve its stealth shaping, the KF-24 has two internal weapons bays. 2 internal weapons bays can be carry with 6 air-to-air or 2 air-to-air missiles and 2 air-to-surface armaments/standoff weapons. The KF-24 can use 6 external weapons stations for missions that do not require stealth.

Engine

The aircraft is powered by a single Hanwha Aerospace JT-206 low-bypass augmented turbofan with rated thrust of 28,000 lbf (125 kN) at military power and 43,000 lbf (191 kN) with afterburner. The engine contributes to the KF-24's stealth by having a low-observable augmenter, or afterburner, that incorporates fuel injectors into thick curved vanes, these vanes are covered by ceramic radar-absorbent materials and mask the turbine.

The low-observable axisymmetric nozzle consists of 15 partially overlapping flaps that create a sawtooth pattern at the trailing edge, which reduces radar signature and creates shed vortices that reduce the infrared signature of the exhaust plume. The KF-24's Integrated Power Package (IPP) performs power and thermal management and integrates environment control, auxiliary power unit, engine starting, and other functions into a single system.

Protection

The KF-24 has military-grade protection against non-nuclear and nuclear shock wave EMPs.

Operators

Joseon:

Royal Joseon Armed Forces
- Royal Joseon Air Force: 1,040 in service.
- Royal Joseon Navy: 640 in service.

Specifications

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 15.6 m
Wingspan: 11.5 m
Height: 4.4 m
Empty weight: 13,290 kg
Gross weight: 22,471 kg
Max takeoff weight: 29,900 kg
Fuel capacity: 8,278 kg internally
Powerplant: 1 x Hanwha Aerospace JT-206 afterburning turbofan, 28,000 lbf (125 kN) thrust dry, 43,000 lbf (191 kN) with afterburner

Performance

Maximum speed:
- Mach 1.60 at high altitude
- Mach 1.06 at sea level
Range:
- Combat range: 1,359 km, interdiction mission (air-to-surface) on internal fuel
- 1,470 km, air-to-air configuration on internal fuel
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
g limits: +9.5