KF-21 Boramae, South Korea's first domestically developed fighter jet, has received final "combat suitable" certification after rigorous performance verification.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced Monday that the Korean Fighter (KF-21) program has obtained the combat suitability certification, the final gateway of the development project.
The certification means that all performance capabilities of the KF-21 Block-I have been verified through follow-up tests conducted over approximately three years since receiving "interim combat suitable" certification in May 2023.
The KF-21 program began with then-President Kim Dae-jung's declaration of domestic advanced fighter jet development in August 2001. After full-scale system development launched in December 2015, the program conducted various ground tests from the initial test evaluation in May 2021 through February this year, verifying durability and structural integrity over approximately five years.
Notably, flight performance and stability were verified across some 13,000 flight test conditions, including aerial refueling and weapons firing tests, through approximately 1,600 prototype flight tests.
DAPA said the combat suitability certification signifies that the KF-21 has met the Air Force's Required Operational Capability (ROC) and secured the technical level and stability necessary to carry out missions in actual combat environments.
With this, the KF-21 system development program will be finalized next month.
The first mass-production KF-21, which rolled out in March this year, is scheduled to be delivered to the Air Force in September during the second half of the year. The KF-21 will replace the Air Force's aging F-4 and F-5 fighters.
"This is a symbolic achievement demonstrating that the Republic of Korea has fully secured independent fighter jet development capabilities," said Noh Ji-man, head of DAPA's Korean Fighter Program Group. "We will push forward mass production and deployment without setbacks to further strengthen the Air Force's operational capabilities."
