KAI replaces “Blk 20” w/ “Blk 70” Designation for the FA-50 Aircraft it sold to the Philippines

KAI replaces “Block 20” with “Block 70” Designation for the FA-50 Aircraft it sold to the Philippines and Poland

After around a Week and a half of silence since the Manufacturer "Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)" announced that the Philippines bought another dozen of their FA-50 Aircraft, the Department of National Defense (DND) finally announced also the Sale.

The biggest surprise is that they officially used the Designation "Block 70" for the Aircraft. Initially I just rolled my Eyes and thought that they had somehow confused that Designation with the F-16C Fighting Falcon which, of course has that Designation for their latest Version.

However, after giving it some thought, I decided to do some search on Google, and true enough, I found one South Korean Website, the "Defense Today" which used the Block 70 Designation for the FA-50 as early as March of last Year of 2024.

Note that the majority of the International Defense Publications have not used this Designation until recently, it had always been "Block 20". From what I can tell, it seems that there is a direct replacement of the "Block 20" Designation to "Block 70".

Quoting from the "Defense Today" Articles:
- "KAI CEO Kang Koo-young proposed the FA-50 Block 70, the latest improved Model being introduced by Poland and Malaysia, to the Thai Air Force."
- "The FA-50M Light Fighter being introduced by Malaysia is an improved Version of the FA-50 Block 70. Poland has already finalized 36 FA-50 Block 70 Aircraft, and Production Work is also Underway."

The KAI Website itself does not show any Reference or Explanation about the different “Block” Versions on their Main Section of the FA-50, which is why there is some confusion about the Nature of these Designations. To clarify Things up, I think KAI needs to explain these Block Designations on their Website itself.

Since there is no official Explanation on why this change was made, I suspect that its main Reason is to help in the Marketing of the F-16C, to identify closer with the FA-50. Remember that the Manufacturer of the F-16C, Lockheed Martin, is instrumental in the Design and Development of the FA-50 Aircraft.

SOURCES:
* https://web.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1030494675938120&set=a.157943906526539
* http://www.defensetoday.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=7142
* http://www.defensetoday.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=7201

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