DAPA, reports of ‘KF-21 development cooperation with UAE’ are “unfounded”
Successful first flight of domestically produced fighter KF-21 prototype 6
(Seoul = Yonhap News) The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced on the 28th that the 6th aircraft, the last prototype of the domestically produced supersonic fighter KF-21 (Boramae), took off from the 3rd Training Wing in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do at 3:49 pm and successfully flew for 33 minutes. The photo is the 6th KF-21 prototype. 2023.6.28 [Provided by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Resale and DB prohibited] [email protected]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong A-ran and Park Soo-yoon
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said on the 18th
that reports that the government is likely to join hands with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to complete the development of the domestically produced supersonic fighter KF-21 are not true.
In response to a related question at the Ministry of Defense's regular briefing on this day, DAPA spokesperson Choi Kyung-ho said,
"After checking with all relevant agencies and departments, the information is unfounded."
One online media outlet recently reported, citing foreign media, that the UAE could replace Indonesia's unpaid KF-21 contribution.
Other media also reported on the 14th that the Tawazun Economic Committee, which is in charge of the UAE's defense industry acquisition, recently sent a letter to the President's Office expressing its intention to cooperate with the KF-21.
In response to this, an official from the Presidential Office said, "The report that the UAE directly mentioned cooperation with the Korean fighter KF-21 is not true," and added, "Considering that matters related to defense industry cooperation with other countries may affect diplomatic relations, we request that you refrain from reporting." "he said.
Previously, President Yoon Seok-yeol held a summit meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta, Indonesia on the 8th (local time) and agreed to work closely together to successfully complete the next-generation fighter joint development project.
The two countries are currently carrying out the KF-21 (Indonesian name IF-X) project to jointly develop a fighter jet by jointly covering a project cost of 8.1 trillion won from 2015 to 2026.
In January 2016, Indonesia paid 20% of the KF-21 development cost, about 1.7 trillion won (later reduced to about 1.6 trillion won), until June 2026, and received one prototype and various technical data, and received the fighter jet. It was decided to produce 48 units locally in Indonesia.
However, after paying only KRW 227.2 billion as of January 2019, the contribution was not paid for nearly 4 years due to budget shortages, and only an additional payment of KRW 9.4 billion was made in November of last year and about KRW 41.7 billion in February of this year.
According to plan, more than 1.1 trillion won should have been paid so far, but Indonesia has paid only 278.3 billion won and is currently in arrears of nearly 1 trillion won.
(서울=연합뉴스) 정아란 박수윤 기자 = 방위사업청은 18일 정부가 아랍에미리트(UAE)와 손잡고 국산 초음속 전투기 KF-21 개발을 마무리할...
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