Government and defense industry officials said Thursday that an export agreement for Indonesia to acquire 16 KF-21s is expected to be signed during Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s state visit to South Korea planned for later this month, at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Officials said the two sides are expected to fine-tune the final amount afterward and hold a separate contract-signing ceremony in the first half of the year. The deal would mark the first export of a fighter jet developed with South Korean technology.
The KF-21 system development program dates to November 2000, when former President Kim Dae-jung declared South Korea would become an advanced aviation nation by developing an advanced fighter jet by no later than 2015. The project is a key national defense program aimed at replacing the Air Force’s aging F-4 and F-5 aircraft with a domestically developed 4.5-generation fighter suited to future battlefields.
The program initially struggled to gain traction over feasibility questions and securing advanced technologies, but accelerated after the Defense Acquisition Program Administration signed a main system development contract with KAI in December 2015.
A total of 8.1 trillion won was invested in system development with Indonesia from 2015 through this year, and 8.4 trillion won has been set aside for mass production costs from 2026 to 2028. The overall project cost totals 16.5 trillion won, and has been described as the largest defense capability buildup project since the founding of the nation.
In January, the KF-21 completed a test flight successfully. DAPA plans to finalize system development in the first half of this year and begin delivering the first mass-produced aircraft to the Air Force in the second half.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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