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The first successful test flight of the Korean KF-21 Boramae fighter took position today, six and a half years after the start of the project.
The fighter jet took off from the South Korean Air Force’s 3rd Flight Training Squadron in Sacheon, about three hundred kilometers south of Seoul, where its manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), is based.
According to the Yonhap News site, the KF-21 took off at 3:40 p. m. m. y landed at 4:13 p. m. (local time) for your maiden flight. Officials had planned to conduct the verification in the morning, but it was delayed for several hours due to weather conditions.
It is remarkable the speed with which the order advances, since only at the beginning of the month the KF-21 carried out its first tests on the track. Although at that time it had already been reported through various media that the first flights would take position this month. And it happened.
The KF-X (Korea Fighter eXperimental) project, which aims to create a Korean fighter jet, was officially born in December 2015 when South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) signed the fighter progression contract with Korea Aerospace Industries.
The first phase of the project, budgeted at about 6,180 million dollars, had as a partner Indonesia, which will cover 20% of this cost. production of 60 of those hunters.
However, Jakarta continued to delay and space out its contributions until at the end of the first phase it paid a quarter of its commitments and Indonesia’s real prestige in the allocation is unknown, however, the country’s flag still appears next to the Korean flag on the newly flown. prototype.
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But South Korea has supported the assignment and progression is proceeding at a steady pace, as there is a pressing desire to renew fleets of obsolete fighter jets, such as the Republic of Korea Air Force’s F-4E Phantom II (ROKAF) F-4E Phantom II, for which 40 KF-21 Block 1s will be produced between 2026 and 2028.
See also: South Korea seeks to upgrade its F-4 and F-5 fighter jets as soon as possible
So far, five KF-21 prototypes have been introduced for verification purposes, and the sixth will be in position later this month. Prototypes will need to complete at least 2000 verification missions, which will come with simulations of real-life tactical conditions. and network fighting missions, to complete the overall progression of the fighter until 2026.
Initially, the KF-21 Boramae will be armed with the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missiles of the German company Diehl and the MbDA Meteor for medium/long-range combat.
The progression of Phase 2 will take place between 2026 and 2028, at an estimated cost of $490 million, whose work will be done on the integration of new guided weapons and, probably, on the internal weapons bay that deserve to be available. for Block 2 aircraft.
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