Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on 29 November that 1,000 test sorties had been completed on the various KF-21 fighter protypes.
The KF-21 is a 4.5 gen fighter aircraft being indigenously developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The 1,000th test sortie was accomplished by the fourth KF-21 prototype, which is being operated by the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) 3rd Training Squadron. As per the DAPA release, with the completion of the 1,000th sortie, about half of the approximately 2,000 sorties planned for KF-21 flight test programme have been completed.
KAI undertook the maiden flight of the KF-21 in July 2022 and a total of six protype aircraft are undertaking developmental flight testing, which has included mid-air refueling and air-to-air weapon launches. The KF-21 has an accident-free flight test record.
The first mass-produced KF-21 is slated to be delivered to the ROKAF and enter service by the end of 2026. Mass production of the KF-21, which is Korea’s first domestically developed fighter jet is now underway at KAI’s Development Center in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam and commenced in July this year. KAI has introduced high levels of automation at the KF-21 production line to increase the accuracy of the assembly process, maximize production efficiency, and decrease production time.
The 'KF-21 Initial Mass Production Plan' at the 160th Defence Acquisition Programme Promotion Committee held in March, this year, was approved by DAPA, following which mass production contracts for the initial mass production requirements were inked with KAI, Hanwha Aerospace, and Hanwha Systems, for manufacture of the aircraft, engines, and Active Electronically Scanned array (AESA) radars, respectively. The initial mass production contract runs from 2024-2027 and is worth KRW 2.632 trillion (approximately US$ 1.86 billion).
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