Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) signed the first serial production contract for the KF-21 Boramae.
The contract, valued at 1.96 trillion won (about $1.4 billion) calls for the production of a total of 20 KF-21 units for the ROKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force), including follow-on logistics support, technical manuals, training for pilots and ground personnel, etc.
The Korean Fighter (KF-X) system development project began in 2015 to engineer a Generation 4.5 fighter aircraft to replace the ROKAF’s aging fleet of F-4 and F-5 fighters, but with the capability to evolve to a fifth-generation weapon system. The total development period is 10 years and 6 months, with system development scheduled for completion in 2026. The plan is to begin supplying the South Korean Air Force with its first KF-21s by the end of 2026.
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The first prototype of the KF-21 Boramae made its maiden flight in July 2022 and currently the aircraft fleet consists of six prototypes, which conduct daily performance and systems tests, having achieved, according to KAI, 80% completion of development.
KAI President Kang Gu-young said, “Despite many challenges and difficulties, the KF-21 system development project was able to reach mass production in a stable manner thanks to the strong cooperation of related organizations such as the Government, the Air Force, DAPA and developer companies.”
The KF-21 is destined to become the central pylon of the ROKAF’s combat capability over the next decades, but it is also expected to have a major impact on the international market, as the FA-50 currently has. To this end, KAI will seek to increase its production capacity and plans to develop more advanced variants, such as the electronic attack KF-21 EA (among others) and advance the integration of new weapons and further develop the technology of complex sixth-generation manned and unmanned equipment systems (MUM-T), as part of the Next Air Combat System (NACS), focusing on the scalability of combat assets as a force multiplier.
