SOUTH KOREA UNVEILS PROTOTYPE OF ITS FIGHTER JET

After about four years of development, South Korea has unveiled a prototype of a new domestically-produced fighter jet, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The goal is to deliver 40 jets under the name KF-21 Boramae by 2028 and 120 jets by 2032, South Korean President Moon Jae In said on Friday at a ceremony at the site of aircraft manufacturer Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) in the southern city of Sacheon.

He said production would begin as soon as test flights were completed. According to KAI, the first test flight is planned for next year. KAI started development in December 2015 and received support from its US partner, defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

South Korea's air force wants the new aircraft to replace older F-4 and F-5 fighter jets, among other things. South Korea also hopes to be able to export the new jet.

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto also attended the ceremony in Sacheon. Indonesia is an official partner in the fighter jet program, originally called KF-X, which cost 8.8 trillion won ($7.85 billion).

Recently, however, there have been doubts in South Korea about Indonesia’s determination to continue participating in the project. Jakarta had stopped payments of an agreed share of 20 percent of the development costs.

Moon, however, stressed that both countries would continue to cooperate until the end of development and in setting up a production system to be able to sell the jet to third countries.

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