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| KF-21 Fighter Jet Prototype for Indonesia Successful First Flying |
Seoul - The fifth prototype of the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet successfully completed its maiden flight on May 16, 2023. This single-seat aircraft was flown by test pilots Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and flew for 45 units. While the sixth prototype of the two-seat (tandem) version will make its maiden flight next month.
In the project previously known as KF-X/IF-X, KAI built six flying prototypes. The first prototype successfully flew for the first time on July 19, 2022, followed by the second prototype on November 10, 2022, the third prototype on January 5, 2023, and the fourth two-seat prototype on February 20, 2023.
Reportedly, the fifth prototype (KF-21 005) will later be handed over to Indonesia, if it has fulfilled the fees it is responsible for. Indonesia itself is reported to be making new payments for the KF-21 program at the end of June 2023.
This payment is a continuation of the previous payment in November 2022 after four years of delay. As a partner country in the KF-21 project, Indonesia has agreed to bear around 20 percent of the total development project cost of 8.8 trillion won (6.5 billion USD).