At 9:49 local time on Thursday (10), the second prototype of the KF-21 «Boramae», the Korean fighter program whose development began almost seven years ago, took off. The first prototype had made the program’s maiden flight last July 19.
The fighter jet took off from the South Korean Air Force’s 3rd Flight Training Squadron in Sacheon, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, where its manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), is based. The flight lasted 36 minutes, and the KF-21 landed at 10:24.
📸 Çok maksatlı Güney Kore savaş uçağı KF-21 Boramae'nin ikinci prototipi bugün ilk uçuşunu gerçekleştirdi.
📸 Savunma İşleri pic.twitter.com/FjFMDxq0ju— Savunma İşleri. (@savunmaisleri) November 10, 2022
The dream of a homegrown fighter
The KF-X (Korea Fighter eXperimental) project, to develop a Korean fighter aircraft was officially born in December 2015 when South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) signed the fighter development contract with Korea Aerospace Industries.
The first phase of the project, budgeted at around $6.18 billion, had Indonesia as a partner, which was to cover 20% of that cost. In return, starting in 2026, the archipelago country was to receive the technology transfer needed to produce 60 of these fighters locally.
However, Jakarta kept delaying and spacing out its contributions until, at the end of the first phase, it had only paid a quarter of its commitments. It was only at the beginning of July that payments were resumed and according to the information that came out, part of these contributions will be paid in «kind», i.e., Indonesian commodities, and not in cash.
But South Korea shouldered the project and the project continues apace, as there is a pressing need for renewal of obsolete fighter fleets, such as the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) F-4E Phantom IIs, for which 40 KF-21 Block 1s will be produced between 2026 and 2028.
So far, five KF-21 prototypes have been launched for test purposes and the sixth will be ready later this month. The prototypes are scheduled to perform 2,000 or more test missions, including simulations of real tactical situations and network combat missions, in order to complete the overall development of the fighter by 2026.
Initially, the KF-21 Boramae will be armed with German firm Diehl’s IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missiles and MBDA’s Meteor missiles for medium/long-range combat.
Phase 2 of development will take place between 2026 and 2028, at an estimated cost of USD 490 million, during which work will be done on the integration of new guided armament and, probably, on the internal armament hold that should be available for Block 2 aircraft.
