South Korea’s KF-21 next-generation fighter flew for the first time. The first prototype KF-21, named Boramae, meaning hawk in Korean, made its maiden flight from Sacheon Airport in the southeast of the country. It's the latest and most significant milestone for a modern combat fighter. The KF-21, took off at 3:40 PM local time, before landing at 4:13 PM. Flying as a chase plane to monitor the flight, T-50 advanced jet trainer.
The prototype Boramae wore the flags of South Korea and Indonesia on the nose. Unusually for a first flight, the jet was also fitted with four mock-ups of the long-range Meteor air-to-air missile, carried in their under the fuselage.
The KF-21 as a “4.5-generation fighter jet,” category. Compared to fifth-generation fighters, these typically lack key attributes like stealth and advanced sensor fusion, among other attributes. Even in its initial form, known as Block 1, the KF-21 will be equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and infrared search and track (IRST) to track air and ground targets.
The basic KF-21 promises to offer at least as much as rival 4.5-generation fighters, with all the benefits that come from homegrown production. Even if the Block 2 version still falls short of being a true fifth-generation stealth fighter, that might not be such an issue for South Korea either. After all, South Korea has already procured the F-35 that does fulfill these criteria. South Korea plans to manufacture the first series-production KF-21s between 2026 and 2028, allowing replacement of the F-4E Phantom II and F-5F Tiger II fighters.
South Korea has been forced into taking a homegrown approach to developing a new-generation fighter. At one stage, it was expected that the United States would provide the AESA radar, IRST sensor, electro-optical targeting pod, and radio-frequency jammer for the KF-21. In 2015, U.S. government reportedly refused to share those technologies, leaving South Korea to go it alone. As a result, the country’s industries now have experience in developing these technologies and produced by own.
However The KF-21 is powered by a pair of U.S.-supplied General Electric F414-GE-400K engines, which offer the benefit of being well-proven, with the reliability that comes from operations in different platforms with multiple operators around the world. Primary air-to-air armament will consist of the IRIS T short-range weapon from the Germany-based Diehl company, as well as the aforementioned Meteor from the pan-European MBDA.
Establishing from scratch the capacity to produce reliable aircraft engines or air-to-air missiles is not easy. At this stage, with one prototype flying and five more on the pipeline in advanced stages of production, South Korea decision to take a different route to its next-generation fighter might pay off.
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