TSAMTO, January 20th. According to a statement from the Defense Procurement Program Agency of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea (DAPA), Indonesia will not receive a prototype of the KF-21 Boramae fighter due to significant changes in the cooperation agreement between the two countries.
The decision is related to Indonesia's reduced financial participation in the program and the disputes that have accumulated over the past few years. The renegotiation led to a reduction in Jakarta's contribution and the cancellation of benefits.
In June 2025, Seoul and Jakarta reviewed the terms of the joint project. Indonesia, which was initially responsible for the 1.6 trillion won stake in the project, reduced its contribution to 600 billion won, of which the Indonesian government paid 500 billion won last year.
As a result of the reduced participation, Indonesia lost previously agreed rights, including receiving the prototype KF-21 005, which was planned to be transferred to the Indonesian Air Force for flight and integration tests of weapons.
Jakarta's participation in the KF-21 program was marked by problems such as repeated payment delays, which forced the Republic of Korea to cover additional costs, as well as espionage attempts and misappropriation of intellectual property attributed to members of the Indonesian delegation. These episodes have increased political and technical pressure to review Indonesia's role in developing the 4.5 generation fighter.
The cancellation of the transfer of the Boramae fighter prototype is considered a serious blow to the Indonesian Air Force, which hoped to use the KF-21 005 to accelerate pilot training, develop operational doctrine, and integrate domestic and foreign weapons.
Under the new terms, Indonesia will remain in the program, but with limited access to technology, prototypes, and critical development stages.
Currently, the Republic of Korea is already operating six prototypes of the KF-21 Boramae, which are undergoing flight tests, sensor evaluation, and air-to-air missile integration. Seoul's goal is to start mass production in 2026 and achieve initial operational readiness in 2028.
As previously reported by CAMTO, in accordance with the initial agreement signed by the two countries in 2015, Indonesia has committed to pay 20% of the total cost of developing a fighter jet by 2026, which was estimated at 8.1 trillion. won (5.99 billion dollars). The Government of the Republic of Korea has pledged to pay 60% of the costs, and KAI has pledged to cover the remaining 20%. In exchange for the investment, Indonesia was to receive one prototype, access to the developed technologies and know-how, and could also purchase up to 48 fighters.
In total, Indonesia was supposed to contribute about 1.6 trillion won. However, for various reasons, payments were received irregularly and were sometimes suspended.
In May 2024, Jakarta initiated discussions to reduce its share of financing to 600 billion. There is also a corresponding reduction in the level of technology transfer. Earlier, in January 2024, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) detained Indonesian employees while trying to remove several flash drives with confidential KF-21 data from a facility in Sacheon.
The Republic of Korea and Indonesia have finally closed the issue of reducing Jakarta's participation in the joint KF-21 fighter development project to 600 billion. won (443 million dollars) in June 2025.
