The KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft will soon be in the air in mid-2022.
Starting this January, the KF-21 Boramae will begin engine operation tests.
The fighter aircraft manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI),
completed assembling single-seat units 1 to 4 of the 6 prototype KF-21 at
the end of last year.
And is currently working on assembling 5 to 6 double-seat units for the
KF-21 Boramae.
Therefore, KAI and military authorities will start the prototype engine of
the KF-21 Boramae on the ground starting this month to check whether various
equipment installed on the aircraft is operating properly.
And also starting ground driving tests where the KF-21 Boramae operating at
high speed on the runway in the first half of this year is also planned to
be carried out.
"If the KF-21 ground test goes smoothly, the first flight test will be
possible as early as June," said one source as quoted by Zonajakarta.com
from Donga.
The first test flight of the KF-21 Boramae was originally planned for early
July 2022.
However, it was reported that the schedule had been moved as aircraft
assembly and ground testing progressed rapidly.
The test flights of the KF-21 are aimed at about 2,200 sorties (number of
sorties) over the next four years, and will be conducted in a manner that
gradually increases altitude, flight distance and takeoff weight.
After the initial flight test, it will be checked whether high-speed
maneuvers and sudden turns are performed normally even after loading various
weapons and equipment, such as missiles, and whether there are abnormalities
in the operation of the weapons systems.
In addition, while the test flight was in progress, the ground test
continued to maximize performance by catching even the smallest faults in
the equipment installed on the KF-21 Boramae.
Military authorities set a goal to complete development of the KF-21 by June
2026 after undergoing a series of tests.
Meanwhile, the military authorities have been conducting tests of an active
electronic scanning phased array (AESA) radar for application to the KF-21
using Boeing 737 aircraft in South Africa since November last year, and they
plan to continue related tests in Korea from this year.
"Since the performance of the radar is strongly influenced by the
surrounding environment, such as topographical features, it was necessary to
derive the parameters as much as possible before being installed on the
KF-21," explained the source.
"I know that testing and performance improvement and supplement work will
continue to check whether it can accurately capture objects," he added.
With a development cost of 8.8 trillion won, the KF-21 Boramae project
started in 2015.
However, Indonesia has postponed the payment of these fees since the second
half of 2017 and President Jokowi during his visit to Seoul in 2018 asked
for renegotiations.
Quoted from KBS, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration
(DAPA) on Monday (11/15/2021), project costs were cut from 8.6 trillion won
to 8.1 trillion won.
Jakarta, which promised to cover 20 percent of the total cost in exchange
for a prototype and transfer of technical information and production of 48
aircraft, had to pay 1.6 trillion won, down from the previous 1.7 trillion
won.
Quoted from Hankyoreh, Indonesia's total contribution to the KF-21 Boramae
fighter jet project has decreased from 1.7 trillion won to 1.6 trillion won.
During the meeting it was revealed that Indonesia would make payments in
installments.
Uniquely, the counter-trade scheme was again used by Indonesia to pay
arrears on KF-21 Boramae.
Indonesia will pay using commodities such as palm oil (CPO), crude rubber
and other agricultural products.
"Indonesia will make payments over the next five years until 2026, and
thirty percent of that will be transfers in kind," said DAPA.