The 'Boramae' Soars Vigorously... KF-21 Unit 2 Completes First Flight Successfully (Comprehensive)

Sije 2nd Unit's First Flight at Approximately 407 km/h
System Development by 2026... Total of 120 Units to be Deployed

Test flight of KF-21 Prototype No. 2
[Photo by Defense Acquisition Program Administration]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hee-jun Jang] The second prototype of the domestically produced supersonic fighter KF-21 "Boramae" has successfully completed its first test flight. Following the successful initial test flight of the first prototype in July this year, the safe takeoff and landing of the second prototype indicates that the development project of the Korean fighter jet is progressing smoothly.

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on the 10th, the KF-21 prototype No. 2 took off successfully from the runway of the Air Force 3rd Training Flight Group in Sacheon City, Gyeongnam Province, near the headquarters of the developer Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in the morning and completed its maiden flight.

The KF-21 No. 2 took off at around 9:49 a.m. and safely landed on the ground at around 10:24 a.m. It soared through the sky for 35 minutes, testing various flight performances. Its top speed was reported to be approximately 407 km/h (220 knots), similar to the initial flight of the first prototype.

The pilot who took the controls of the second prototype was Jin Tae-beom, a senior test pilot from KAI. He said, "Having accumulated flight experience with the first prototype, the second one felt familiar. The flight focused on control safety, and the flight characteristics were similar to the first prototype, making the flight easy."

Going forward, with the successful flight of the second prototype, flight tests will be conducted using two aircraft. Prototypes No. 3 to No. 6 will be sequentially introduced into flight tests from the end of this year through the first half of next year after completing ground tests and flight test preparations.

The fuselage of the second prototype was painted in a slightly darker color than the first prototype. Unlike the first prototype’s vertical tail fin, which had a black background with white stripes, the second prototype’s vertical tail fin was painted black with yellow stripes to differentiate it. Different paint schemes were applied to each prototype to review suitable paint for mass-produced fighters in the future.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Since the delivery of the first prototype in April 2021, the KF-21 has undergone various ground tests and the First Flight Readiness Review (FFRR) in June this year, confirming that a safe maiden flight was prepared. The first prototype then performed its maiden flight on July 19. A total of about 2,000 flight tests are planned, through which various flight performances and air-to-air weapon compatibility will be verified, with system development scheduled to conclude in 2026.

The KF-21 took flight approximately 22 years after former President Kim Dae-jung declared the "independent development of advanced fighter jets" in November 2000, and 20 years after the military decided on a long-term new requirement to develop a fighter surpassing the KF-16 in 2002.

DAPA conducted feasibility analysis, exploratory development, operational requirement capability (ROC) and quantity determination, and signed the main system development contract with KAI in December 2015, starting system development in January the following year.

With the development and flight of the KF-21, South Korea has moved closer to becoming the eighth country in the world to develop a supersonic fighter jet. Until now, countries that have developed supersonic fighters include the United States, Russia, China, Japan, France, Sweden, and the European consortium (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain).

Upon successful final development, the Air Force plans to deploy a total of 120 units, starting with an initial batch of 40 units between 2026 and 2028, followed by an additional 80 units by 2032.