MANILA, Philippines — South Korea will construct 40 KF-21 Boramae fighter jets this 12 months with the 238.7 billion won (U.S. $178.6 million) allocated for the Defense Ministry, at the same time as the aircraft makes its way through flight and ground tests.
The primary mass production of the KF-21 is predicted to fill the “power vacuum” left when the South Korean Air Force’s aging fighter fleet retires, the defense minister said in a Dec. 21 statement.
In line with Korea Aerospace Industries, which makes the KF-21, the engineering and manufacturing phase will conclude in 2026. The Korea Times reported in January the Air Force plans to deploy the primary KF-21 within the second half of that 12 months.
The KF-21 is about to switch the F-4 and F-5 fleets, and the Air Force plans to have some 120 Boramae jets in total by 2032.
The Boramae will serve because the “backbone” of the Air Force, the ministry said, and can play a pivotal role in expanding the three-axis system — a technique that informs how the South Korean military should reply to an attack from North Korea.
The fighter has been under development since 2015, but this system didn’t gain much ground until 2020, when assembly for the primary prototypes took place. The federal government hired Korea Aerospace Industries to supply the jet, and the corporate sought technological support from American firm Lockheed Martin. The 2 businesses previously worked together on the FA-50 light attack aircraft.
The inaugural flight test of six KF-21s took place in 2022. KAI carried out a supersonic test throughout the first 60 flight tests, and the corporate unveiled the aircraft on the Seoul ADEX defense conference following at the least 300 of the planned 2,000 test flights in October 2023.
Flight, ground and extra tests for the remaining prototypes will proceed until 2028 — the identical 12 months Air Force squadrons are to start flying the primary batch of KF-21s for air-to-air missions.
The fighter jet boasts cutting-edge avionics, including lively electronically scanned array radars, and it might probably carry a spread of advanced precision weapons.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration and KAI have been testing missiles to mount on the KF-21 to spice up its competitiveness on the international market. In a December 2022 news release, DAPA announced plans to spend 190 billion won to enable the KF-21 to hold long-range missiles. The agency said it’s going to “increase the export competitiveness of missiles linked to the KF-21.”
And last 12 months, the agency announced plans to develop short-range, air-to-air missiles for the Boramae, to be accomplished in 2035.
KAI has also tested various missile systems under agreements signed last 12 months with the European weapons maker MBDA. The businesses plan to mount air-to-surface missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles following an earlier contract that involved mounting Meteor air-to-air missiles on some prototypes.
In April, German company Diehl Defence announced a KF-21 successfully fired the IRIS-T air-to-air missile.
The KF-21 program was expected to cost 8.8 trillion won. DAPA was to cover 60%, KAI would handle 20%, and the remaining 20% would come from Indonesia. Nevertheless, Indonesia has run behind on payments since 2017.
CNN Indonesia reported in January the federal government there intends to meet its commitments to this system, at the same time as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with fiscal challenges. Meanwhile, Poland and the United Arab Emirates have reportedly expressed interest in this system.
DAPA didn’t reply to Defense News’ questions on funding arrangements, however the agency has reportedly not made a final decision on financing schemes.
KAI hopes the KF-21 will turn into its next export success. In 2022, the corporate signed contracts with Poland for 48 FA-50 light attack aircraft. Lt. Col. Krzysztof Płatek, a spokesperson for Poland’s Armament Agency, wrote on Twitter on the time the 2 deals were value a complete of $3 billion.
Last December, the Royal Malaysian Air Force ordered 18 FA-50 Block 20 Fighting Eagles.
And even before KAI unveiled the Boramae at Seoul ADEX, the corporate’s regional manager, Kim Sang Eung, pitched the KF-21 to the Philippine Air Force, calling the aircraft “essentially the most cost-efficient solution” for countries searching for multirole fighter jets.
South Korea was the ninth largest arms exporter during 2018-2022, in keeping with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Swedish think tank identified the Philippines, India and Thailand as its top customers in the course of the same time period.
Leilani Chavez is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. Her reporting expertise is in East Asian politics, development projects, environmental issues and security.