South Korea joins supersonic fighter club as KF-21 jet takes to skies
-
Loading... - Laura Berg
- 21 Jul 2022
- 112 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
The prototype jet took a 33-minute roundtrip flight from an air force base in the southern city of Sacheon, said South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The pilot, Maj. Ahn Jun-hyun, admitted to being nervous beforehand, but said that after take off "everything went smoothly so I flew the whole flight route as planned."
The jet is the first of a fleet of six KF-21 prototypes made by Korea Aerospace Industries that will conduct more than 2,000 test flights from now until 2026, when mass production and deployment will begin, DAPA said.
A total of 120 jets are expected to be delivered to the South Korean air force by 2030.
Once operational, the KF-21 is expected to be armed with a range of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles -- and possibly even air-launched cruise missiles. The twin-engine fighters will come in single- and two-seat versions.
On Tuesday, the jet was equipped with four mock-up Meteor air-to-air missiles and an infrared search-and-track system, and reached speeds of around 400 kilometers per hour (250 mph).
South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol said the test flight was "a splendid achievement in national defense independence."
The KF-21 is a joint project between South Korea and Indonesia in which Seoul holds 80% of shares.
While only 65% of the KF-21's parts are of South Korean origin, its maiden flight still marks a significant achievement for a country that doesn't have a lengthy history of aircraft production.
The only other countries to have developed and flown an advanced supersonic jet fighter are the United States, Russia, China, Japan, France, Sweden and a European consortium of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Of those, only the US and China have deployed domestic-made fifth-generation fighter jets -- planes that feature stealth technologies, radar-jamming capabilities and avionics that integrate onboard and remote data to give pilots a real-time picture of their operation, according to NATO's Joint Air Power Competence Center.
While the DAPA calls the KF-21 a 4.5-generation fighter jet because it lacks such features as an internal weapons bay that would make it more stealthy, analysts say it may be able to fly higher and faster than the newest US-made fifth-generation fighter, the F-35. Read More…
