Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
South Korea is planning to retrofit an active, electronically scanned array radar to its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s, sparking a competition liable to be repeated for a swath of Fighting Falcon operators. The South Korean air force will likely issue a request for proposals in 2010 or early 2011 for an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for its F‑16C/D aircraft. The air force has around 40 Block 32 aircraft and 140 Block 52-standard aircraft.
TURKISH TRAINERS: Korea Aerospace Industries has rolled out the first of 40 KT-1 trainers on contract for supply to Turkey. The company has sold 12 of the aircraft to Indonesia and 85 to South Korea.
Tokyo’s Narita Airport has opened the extension that will allow heavier aircraft to use its second runway. The airport’s B runway is now 2,500 meters (8,000 feet) long, extended from 2,180 meters (6,076 feet). The runway is long enough for flights departing for the U.S. West Coast.
