KF-21 scrambles! K-defense is now conquering the skies!
The KF-21 faced numerous setbacks before its first mass-produced unit rolled off the assembly line on the 25th. Observers say the successful development of a "Korean fighter jet" despite daunting odds was the fruit of close collaboration among the government, military and defense companies — transcending partisan lines.
The origins of the KF-21 program date back 25 years to 2001. Then-President Kim Dae-jung declared at the graduation and commissioning ceremony for the 49th class of the Air Force Academy that "Korea will develop a domestically built fighter jet by 2015." The military drew up a long-term fighter development plan the following year in 2002.
Yet the program ran into relentless obstacles. In 2007, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) concluded in a research report that development was "not feasible," citing excessive projected costs. Hopes were briefly revived in 2009 when South Korea and Indonesia signed a letter of intent (LOI) for joint development. But the program hit another wall in 2012 when the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) again issued a negative assessment.
After more than a decade of stagnation, the Korean fighter jet program regained momentum in 2015 through a decisive push by then-President Park Geun-hye. Industry, academia and research institutes then collaborated to localize core technologies and resolve technical challenges one by one, advancing development and production without a single schedule delay. The achievement was the collective work of 64,500 researchers and engineers, including those at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
In April 2021, the KF-21 prototype finally rolled out of KAI's production plant in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province. The first test flight succeeded in July 2022. After 955 ground tests and 1,601 flight tests conducted with a total of six prototypes, the first mass-produced unit was delivered on the 25th.