On July 19, 2022, the first flight of the first flight prototype of the promising South Korean multifunctional fighter KF-21 Boramae (serial and tail number "001"), created under the KF-X program, took place at the airfield of the head enterprise of the South Korean aircraft corporation Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon (which is also the base of the South Korean Air Force). The duration of the first flight was 33 minutes.
The first flight prototype of the promising South Korean multifunctional fighter KF-21 Boramae (KF-X, serial and tail number "001") in the first flight. Sacheon, 07/19/2022 (c) Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI)
The first prototype of the KF-21 in the first flight was piloted by Major Ahn Jun Hyun from the 52nd Test and Evaluation Squadron of the South Korean Air Force. It is worth noting that on the first flight on the first prototype, four mass-sized mock-ups of MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles were suspended on four "recessed" ventral suspensions. The prototype, like the planned production aircraft, is equipped with two American General Electric F414-GE-400 engines.
An ambitious program to create a promising KF-X fighter in South Korea, attributed by the South Koreans themselves to the "4++" generation, is being carried out under the leadership of the Defense Development Agency (Agency for Defense Development - ADD) of the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea with the leading role of the Korea Aerospace Industries Aircraft Corporation (KAI). The program was started back in 2001, but moved to the practical plane around 2010.
In December 2015, KAI received a contract from the Procurement Department of the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea (Defense Acquisition Program Administration - DAPA) for the full-scale development of the KF-X aircraft, with the construction of six flight prototypes (including two two-seater, in addition, two more samples are being built for ground tests) starting in 2021 and with the beginning of serial production in 2026. The total cost of the R&D program is estimated at $8.5 billion, and the cost of building 120 serial fighters for the South Korean Air Force from 2026 to 2032 was estimated at another $8.8 billion.The technical design of the KF-X aircraft was finally approved during the final stage of the Critical Design Review (CDR) in September 2019, after which the construction of the head flight prototype (serial and tail number "001") was started at the KAI enterprise in Sacheon, the presentation of which took place there on April 9, 2021. At the same time, it was announced that the aircraft was named KF-21 Boramae ("Falcon").
To date, the KAI enterprise in Sacheon has almost completed the production of three more flight prototypes of the KF-21 - two single (serial numbers "002" and "003") and one double (serial number "004"). It is planned that six flight prototypes of the KF-21 will have to fly more than 2,000 hours during flight tests by the end of 2026.
At the presentation ceremony of the first prototype of the KF-21 on April 9, 2021, the then President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, said that it was expected that the South Korean Air Force would have 40 fighters of this type in 2028 and 140 aircraft in 2032. South Korea is also counting on a wide export of this aircraft.
In 2010, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on Indonesia's accession to the KF-X project, while the share of the Indonesian side in the program was to amount to $ 1.6 billion of the total R&D cost of $8.5 billion. In January 2016, KAI and the Indonesian aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) signed an agreement on the joint development of the KF-X and its Indonesian version IF-X. The Indonesian Air Force has stated that it intends to purchase 50 IF-X fighters in the period up to 2040. However, in fact, the Indonesian side chronically did not pay for participation in the program, and by the end of 2020 invested only $ 205 million in it (including only $ 10 million after 2016), owing $ 420 million, and so its participation in it remains almost formal. In 2020, Indonesia's participation in the program was frozen. In August 2021, Indonesia confirmed its interest in the KF-21 program, and a preliminary agreement was reached between the stotors to cover the debt and further expenses. This allowed the Indonesian engineers to return to South Korea to continue working on the project. In November 2021, Indonesia and South Korea agreed to conclude a new development cost-sharing agreement by March 2022, but so far it has not been signed, and the issue of Indonesian debt under the program has not been resolved. Nevertheless, the prototypes of the KF-21 are decorated with the Indonesian flag.
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The first flight prototype of the promising South Korean multifunctional fighter KF-21 Boramae (KF-X, serial and tail number "001") in the first flight. Sacheon, 07/19/2022 (c) Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI)
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