South Korea has rolled out an advanced supersonic jet trainer.
Korea Aerospace Industries ... K-A-I ... has worked jointly with the U.S. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company since 19-96 to develop the T-50 Golden Eagle trainer aircraft.
K-A-I plans to provide about one hundred T-50s to the Korean Air Force, and export more than ten billion dollars worth of the trainer jets by two thousand-10.
Officials said the T-50s will replace the Air Force's current trainers ... the T-37 and T-38 models, and also be used to prepare future pilots to fly current and next-generation fighters.
Test flights of the trainer are due in May or June next year and the delivery to the Korean Air Force is set to begin in two thousand five.
The Korean government has invested about 70 percent in the development of the T-50, with K-A-I putting in 17 percent and Lockheed 13 percent.