KAI KF-21 Boramae (KFX Korean Indigenous Fighter program)
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FighterJock
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Nice. How many flying prototypes will there be? Just wondering.
4 single-seaters and 2 twin-seaters, as I recall.
FighterJock
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Not that many prototypes, I am surprised at that number. Obviously South Korea want to get the KF-21 into service as soon as possible.
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Want to beat the Chinese into the market (?)
FighterJock
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Considering that China banned the sale of the J-20 just like what the US did with the F-22, there are many countries around the world right now that would want a fifth generation fighter like the KF-21 and it would fill that area nicely.
KF-21 currently isn't fifth gen.
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It has the potential to be with future revisions.
But, the block upgrade would be difficult and require another decade, during which several fifth or sixth gen fighters will come out. I'm looking forward to see how they find optimized solution if the customer decides to have the upgraded aircrafts.
- IWB, yeah I know it already has space for it but currently it's not utilized as such.
- truely stealth capability
- things you already mentioned
J-31 at current state actually more closer to 5th gen actually.
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I was thinking that Korea wants to have a platform that can compete against FC-31"Gyrfalcon" since I will assume that China might use that as their high end platform for foreign markets.
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Not sure which markets KF-21 and FC-31 would compete in.
Thus far South Korea has mostly exported its major weapon systems to Southeast Asian countries, Eastern Europe, and the Middle-East, many of those already using US or European systems
China is more likely to export specifically to those Southeast Asian countries that can't get western weapons, Africa, South Asia bar India.
Thus far South Korea has mostly exported its major weapon systems to Southeast Asian countries, Eastern Europe, and the Middle-East, many of those already using US or European systems
China is more likely to export specifically to those Southeast Asian countries that can't get western weapons, Africa, South Asia bar India.
Something more related to the KF-50 and highly speculative when it comes to the Borame. But still...
www.opex360.com
eurasiantimes.com
Airbus Military open for more closed cooperation with KAI in Europe. Is that the plan B(is)?
Airbus Defence & Space veut aider Korea Aerospace Industries à vendre ses avions de combat en Europe - Zone Militaire
Le 18 novembre, le ministère allemande de la Défense a annoncé qu'un accord venait d'être trouvé entre Dassault Aviation et Airbus au sujet de l'avion de
www.opex360.com
Airbus Offers South Korea A 'Win-Win' Strategy To Export Its FA-50 Fighting Eagles To Western Europe
Airbus has offered South Korea a "win-win strategy" to boost the sales of South Korea's FA-50 and other fighters to Western Europe.
eurasiantimes.com
Airbus Military open for more closed cooperation with KAI in Europe. Is that the plan B(is)?
red admiral
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Well that is pretty weird given that Airbus Spain is currently developing their own fast jet trainer that is very similar to T-50 at least.
Not sure who might be interested in FA-50s: Austria? Portugal? Maybe Airbus just takes a cut and provides Operational Support?
Not sure who might be interested in FA-50s: Austria? Portugal? Maybe Airbus just takes a cut and provides Operational Support?
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you are referring to the AJFT right?
it seems this proposal is dead in the water like MAKO was.
On the one hand I don't think KAI needs Airbus as its been successful in exporting the FA-50/T-50 on its own, including to an EU country.
but on the other, I can see how KAI teaming up with Airbus could on the KF-21 could work. for KAI, they can get European influence to buy a major combat aircraft which faces stiffer competition. for Airbus, they have a back up plan in case collaboration with Dassault doesnt work out in the end. a heavily upgraded KF-21 could have a good market in Europe. on related news, Norway chose the K9 artillery, and I wonder if they will choose the K-2 tank next.
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red admiral
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AFJT still seems to be an active programme under development in Spain from what I can tell. If not, then maybe partnership on T-50 may make some sense so that Airbus have a product in this segment, but the European market is pretty unclear.
Is there any likely market for KF-21 in Europe. Almost everyone is going F-35, even smaller countries like Czech Rep. I think again I get to potentially less than a dozen for either Austria or Portugal...
I don't really see how Airbus selling KF-21 is a back up plan? Even going full over to licence production plus in-country mods to airframe (payload bays? coatings?) and avionics (AESA from Hensoldt? New software?) Doesn't seem to remotely sustain their industrial capability in the area.
Is there any likely market for KF-21 in Europe. Almost everyone is going F-35, even smaller countries like Czech Rep. I think again I get to potentially less than a dozen for either Austria or Portugal...
I don't really see how Airbus selling KF-21 is a back up plan? Even going full over to licence production plus in-country mods to airframe (payload bays? coatings?) and avionics (AESA from Hensoldt? New software?) Doesn't seem to remotely sustain their industrial capability in the area.
kaiserd
I really should change my personal text
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Presumably any agreement is really about increasing the competitiveness of the T-50 in relevant competitions once the Boeing T-7 is available, plus with a view to wider European and South Korean collaboration in the future (potentially re: the FCAS/ SCARF project, etc.)
kaiserd
I really should change my personal text
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But in a context where the likes of Japan appears to be shifting towards non-US partnerships re: developing their aviation industry (whatever the nature of their interest in the Tempest program ends up looking like) then South Korea may do likewise.
It’s not so much South Korea or Japan are not going to continue to be close US allies (and F-35 customers, for example) but the US (under preceding and current administrations) doesn’t appear particularly wiling or able to strike the kind of next-generation technology sharing deals on offer elsewhere.
This is undoubtedly surprising and does appear to change the calculus for the likes of Japan and South Korea - given precedent and existing industrial and military links you would have expected them to favour US partnerships if equivalent terms had been on offer.
Put European engines on it and it'll be more interesting.
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what American components are there on the KF-21? off the top of my head the F414 engines and I think the canopy and ejection seats?
Radar is Korean, a number of the missiles are European,
No, it's from Martin Baker UK.
The cannon is M61.
There are some rumors regarding the Korean transport aircraft that KAI has been pitching for quite a few years, also related to a mid-sized regional airliner program. Since FMTC is known to be smaller than Hercules and the A400M is quite big, so there's a place for a transport aircraft in between in terms of Airbus' portofolio. KAI has been looking for a financial and techincal partner and has been in contact with Embraer (KC-390, also gives a hint of the size of the transport aircraft the Koreans are considering) alongside Airbus for quite a while now. Overall, unfortunately not a topic for this thread.Something more related to the KF-50 and highly speculative when it comes to the Borame. But still...
Airbus Defence & Space veut aider Korea Aerospace Industries à vendre ses avions de combat en Europe - Zone Militaire
Le 18 novembre, le ministère allemande de la Défense a annoncé qu'un accord venait d'être trouvé entre Dassault Aviation et Airbus au sujet de l'avion de
Airbus Offers South Korea A 'Win-Win' Strategy To Export Its FA-50 Fighting Eagles To Western Europe
Airbus has offered South Korea a "win-win strategy" to boost the sales of South Korea's FA-50 and other fighters to Western Europe.
Airbus Military open for more closed cooperation with KAI in Europe. Is that the plan B(is)?
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It's been quite well known that even within Spain there ain't no single universal sentiment towards AFJT, so...
Anyways sorry for derailing the thread again.
CN suite on KF-21 are connected to Cobham conformal antenna. IFF is a BAE product. Block 1 and 2 will be fitted with MIDS JTRS. Few other avionics and quite a few components as well, but those are the most critical ones that comes to my mind right now.
TAC for KF-X program was choosed solely based on the outcomes of the 3rd F-X program, which resulted in F-35As for ROKAF. EADS would have been in place of Lockmart had EF won the competition.
Something more related to the KF-50 and highly speculative when it comes to the Borame. But still...
Airbus Defence & Space veut aider Korea Aerospace Industries à vendre ses avions de combat en Europe - Zone Militaire
Le 18 novembre, le ministère allemande de la Défense a annoncé qu'un accord venait d'être trouvé entre Dassault Aviation et Airbus au sujet de l'avion de
Airbus Offers South Korea A 'Win-Win' Strategy To Export Its FA-50 Fighting Eagles To Western Europe
Airbus has offered South Korea a "win-win strategy" to boost the sales of South Korea's FA-50 and other fighters to Western Europe.
Airbus Military open for more closed cooperation with KAI in Europe. Is that the plan B(is)?
I've just recalled that there's a thread for this topic (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/kai-mc-x-future-transport.37156/) so take a look if any of you are interested.
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new missiles for the Boramae
www.koreatimes.co.kr
Korea to develop air-launched cruise missile by 2028
South Korea's arms procurement agency will launch a program to develop a long-range, air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said, Monday. DAPA said it will spend 190 billion won ($145 million) to produce the nation's first domestically...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
No, it's not a proposal but an ongoing program called Air-to-Ship Missile-II. Other name of the program is Multi-Purpose Air-Launched Supersonic Cruise Missile.
The program, officially called the Long-Range Air-to-Ground Missile, is not really new. I've also wrote a short post about it a few pages back (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...n-indigenous-fighter-program.1686/post-457609).new missiles for the Boramae
Korea to develop air-launched cruise missile by 2028
South Korea's arms procurement agency will launch a program to develop a long-range, air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said, Monday. DAPA said it will spend 190 billion won ($145 million) to produce the nation's first domestically...
It started in August of 2018 and entered EMD phase this year. LRAGM program initially had 2 competing designs, one from Hanwha and one from LIG Nex1. The latter came out as a winner of the bid.
Hanwha proposal:
LIG Nex1 prototype(without the engine) of the model currently under development:
test flight (again, this particular prototype is unpowered):
Don't ask me why the music is so cheesy and annoying.
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FYI, that's the Turkish SOM.
Oh the flying one? Yes I've mistaken it. LRAGM doesn't have that intake shape. Thanks for noting.
On a sidenote, like I've said in a previous post (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...n-indigenous-fighter-program.1686/post-457609), Hanwha once partnered with Rocketsan and offered SOM-J to the ROKAF, for the prospective MRAGM program, although this program didn't go beyond consideration due to current ATO issues (prospective launch platforms are all tasked with quite a lot of tasks already).
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Poland’s PGZ Looks To Join South Korea’s KF-21 Program | Aviation Week Network
The Polish military prime is hoping to participate in the KAI KF-21 fighter program which could see development of a new variant.
aviationweek.com
Can't say that I'm surprised, would make a lot of sense considering the the f-50 order and the work being done with the K-2PL
Will not happen anytime soon. Their fighter jet procurement plan (originally called for around 100 fighter jets in the late 90s) is now complete with the purchase of the FA-50PL. Should they procure any Boramaes, it would be to replace their F-16s, but those were introduced between 2006 and 2009 and the Polish defence planning outlined a planned upgrade for these Falcons.Poland’s PGZ Looks To Join South Korea’s KF-21 Program | Aviation Week Network
The Polish military prime is hoping to participate in the KAI KF-21 fighter program which could see development of a new variant.
Can't say that I'm surprised, would make a lot of sense considering the the f-50 order and the work being done with the K-2PL
Though, it is safe to assume that their upgraded Falcons will get phased out around the time (or a bit later than) the point when Korean Falcons will start to get phased out, which means there's a room for cooperation for a future joint Falcon replacement fighter program.
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Consdering the state of the world right now i wouldn't be supised if poland dose join in (after all that 100 fighter then was dropped in 2000 for a different plan anyway) russia looks like its starting to unfuck its airforce and if thats the case poland is probably going to be looking for a kf-21 block 2 5th gen fighter to go along with there f-35 order ( i doubt the polish air force would consider upgraded f-16s good enough in that case)Will not happen anytime soon. Their fighter jet procurement plan (originally called for around 100 fighter jets in the late 90s) is now complete with the purchase of the FA-50PL. Should they procure any Boramaes, it would be to replace their F-16s, but those were introduced between 2006 and 2009 and the Polish defence planning outlined a planned upgrade for these Falcons.Poland’s PGZ Looks To Join South Korea’s KF-21 Program | Aviation Week Network
The Polish military prime is hoping to participate in the KAI KF-21 fighter program which could see development of a new variant.
Can't say that I'm surprised, would make a lot of sense considering the the f-50 order and the work being done with the K-2PL
Though, it is safe to assume that their upgraded Falcons will get phased out around the time (or a bit later than) the point when Korean Falcons will start to get phased out, which means there's a room for cooperation for a future joint Falcon replacement fighter program.
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