Working with Indonesia

South Korea’s first prototype of fighter jet will be released in 2021.
South Korea’s first prototype of fighter jet will be released in 2021.

The first prototype of Korean Fighter Xperiment (KF-X) aircraft project, which aims to locally develop and produce a key fighter aircraft for the Air Force, will be released in 2021.

During a business report at the National Defense Committee on March 18, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said, “We are now in the detailed design process to produce a prototype of the KF-X project after reviewing the basic design of the aircraft system. The first prototype will be launched in 2021 after reviewing the detailed design in September this year.”

The KF-X project costs a total of 8.83 trillion won (US$7.79 billion) of investments alone and Indonesia is also participating in the project as a joint developer.

In regard to Indonesia’s contributions to the development, the DAPA said, “Indonesia has been behind in allotted expense payment from the second half of 2017. It paid some, or 132 billion won (US$116.45 million), of the unpaid balance on Jan. 2 this year but the balance of 205.60 billion won (US$181.39 million) is still past due.” Indonesia is allotted 1.73 trillion won (US$1.53 billion), 20 percent of the total development costs.
 

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