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.
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.
Korea Aerospace Industries is studying a concept for a combat drone that it says would conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, including suppression of enemy air defenses. The stealthy aircraft, called K-UCAV, would also operate as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft with an “excellent sensor system,” the company says. No concrete South Korean requirement for a combat drone has been revealed, but research into such aircraft may be one way for Korea Aerospace to maintain its combat aircraft skills.
