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.
Korea Aerospace Industries can expect to build a combat version of its T-50 supersonic trainer until at least 2016, following the government’s issue of a development contract for the FA-50 attack variant. The government has chosen to fit the FA-50 with the EL/M-2032 radar from the Elta division of Israel Aerospace Industries. In 2007, the U.S.—exercising its right to prevent the aircraft from becoming a competitor to the Lockheed Martin F-16—blocked the first choice, the British-built Vixen 500E radar from Italy’s Selex Galileo.
THUNDERING AHEAD: The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex is ready to begin series production of the JF-17 Thunder fighter as soon as the government gives it the go-ahead. The complex can build 50 of the aircraft a year, according to its chairman, Air Marshal Khalid Chaudhry. The JF-17 has been developed in collaboration with China, where it is called the FC-1. Chaudhry says the complex can make 75 percent of the JF-17’s avionics and 58 percent of its airframe. The engine is the Klimov RD-93 from Russia.
China forecasts its airlines will carry 11% more passengers this year than in 2008, implying faster growth than recorded in the past 12 months but still less than rates of about 15% earlier in the decade. The Civil Aviation Administration of China is also making new efforts to support carriers by dropping some airport fees and allowing new high-frequency services. And it is again urging them to defer aircraft scheduled for delivery this year.
