Korea's first fighter KF21 prototype released 20 years after the development declaration
The first fighter "KF21" developed with Korean technology showed its majesty on the 9th. This is the first achievement in 20 years since the Korean government officially declared the development of a domestic fighter in 2001. If the prototype released on the 9th goes through all the test stages by 2014, South Korea will become the 8th nation in the world to develop supersonic fighters with its own technology. "Finally, the completed fighter will protect the Korean Peninsula territory," said Kang Uno, the director of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The stealth function of KF21 has been pointed out as a weakness, but there is a view that the deterrence against North Korea will be further strengthened.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) announced that the first Korean-style fighter (KF-X) prototype was delivered at the delivery ceremony of the first Korean-style fighter (KF-X) held in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do on the 9th. It was named "21". It means a central force for the leap to the advanced aerospace force in the 21st century. The usual name, which is a kind of alternative name for military aircraft, has been decided to be "Porame", which is a symbol of the Air Force.
The prototype delivered this day will be used for ground and flight tests for the next five years. The first test flight is scheduled to take place after July next year, when all the remaining five prototypes have been built. The Air Force plans to deploy 40 aircraft by 2016 and a total of 120 aircraft by 2020.
It is the first time in six years since the development of a fighter, which had only drawings, first appeared in general under the leadership of KAI in 2015. The KF-X project will be invested a total of 8.8 trillion won by 2028, and is called "the largest weapons development project since Dangun." It began in March 2001 when former President Kim Dae-Jung declared at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy that he would "develop domestic fighters until 2015." At the time of 2002, after it was decided to develop more than 120 high-class fighters, which were slightly higher than the KF16, which is the main aircraft of the Air Force, the business got on track.
The outer shape of the KF21 is 16.9 meters long, 4.7 meters high and 11.2 meters wide. It is a little larger than the US F-16 and similar to the F-18. It has a maximum thrust of 44,000 liters (pounds), a maximum takeoff weight of 25,600 kg, and a maximum payload of 7,700 kg. It can also be equipped with long-range air-to-ground missiles currently under development, including the European-made METEOR air-to-air missile and the German Deal air-to-air missile (AIM-2000). The maximum speed is Mach 1.81 (2200 km / h) and the cruising range reaches 2900 km.
