The South Korean KF-21 Boramae fighter could reach full operational capability before the F-35…

Rarely does a program as complex as the development of a new combat aircraft go without delay. This is all the more remarkable when it comes to the first combat aircraft developed by an aeronautical industry which is moreover straddling the new generation.

This is indeed what the South Koreans of the South Korean group KAI are about to accomplish with the KF-21 Boramae program, while the 6ᵉ and last of the planned prototypes has just made a first flight 33 minutes to Gyeongnam-do in the south of the country (in main illustration).

The program now has four single-seater aircraft, numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5; as well as two two-seater versions, n° 4 and 6. to complete their tests, explore the flight envelope and test and validate the electronic equipment and armaments of the aircraft, less than a year after the first flight of the 'device.

A month ago, the KF-21 had also obtained, in this respect, a first partial combat qualification, while it is expected that the aircraft will receive its full combat capability from 2026, when it enters service to replace the F-4 and F-5 still in service with the southern air forces -Koreans.

It should be noted, in this respect, that in the event that the last phases of the program would take place according to the schedule so far respected to the letter, the KF-21 Boramae would reach full operational capability, and would go into series production, before the F-35A did, even though the South Korean program was launched only in 2010, 15 years after that of the Lightning II.

It is true that the two programs are difficult to compare, the F-35 being significantly more advanced in the areas of stealth, data fusion and sensors. However, such a gap, moreover amplified by the fact that it was a first for the South Korean aeronautical industry, tends to demonstrate all the structural imbalances that handicap the American program, and seriously hinder its the good proceedings.

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