Korea KF-X/ IF-X (KF-21) program

[chibiyabi]

S. Korea approves cutting Indonesia's contribution for joint KF-21 fighter project to 600 bln won | Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense authorities on Friday approved a pla...

en.yna.co.kr

S. Korea approves cutting Indonesia's contribution for joint KF-21 fighter project to 600 bln won​

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense authorities on Friday approved a plan to reduce Indonesia's contribution for a joint fighter jet development project to 600 billion won (US$440 million), about one-third of the original amount, the state arms procurement agency said.

The Defense Project Promotion Committee endorsed the plan amid concerns over Jakarta's commitment to the KF-21 project due to its repeated payment delays.

Indonesia initially agreed to pay 1.6 trillion won, representing 20 percent of the 8.1 trillion-won program launched in 2015 to develop an advanced supersonic fighter. However, Indonesia has so far contributed only around 380 billion won and has recently requested to reduce its total financial contribution to 600 billion won.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the plan covers ways to secure insufficient funds, but did not offer details.

It said the approval considered various factors, including bilateral relations and the possibility of securing the funds, adding that it would properly wrap up cost-sharing talks with Indonesia.

Despite the payment delays, the project is on track to start delivering the advanced fighters, designed to replace South Korea's F-4 and F-5 Cold War-era jets, to the Air Force in 2026.

In June, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd., the country's sole fighter jet builder, signed a 1.96 trillion-won deal with DAPA to start production of 20 KF-21s.

KF-21 인니 분담금 1조원 깎아 6천억원으로…기술이전은 축소(종합)

방추위 열어 인도네시아 제안 수용 확정155㎜ 사거리연장탄 양산하고 추후 유도기능 부여미사일 시험 발사하는 KF-21[KAI 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지] (서울=연합뉴스) 김지헌 기자 = 한국형 전투기 KF-21 '보라매'의 공동 개발국인 인도네시아의 분담금이 당초 1조6천억 원에서 6천억 원으로 축소됐다. 방위사업청은...

n.news.naver.com

As for the KF-21 prototype, which Indonesia was originally supposed to receive in exchange for co-development, “If they want the prototype, we will discuss it, but if the total value of the technology transfer (plus the prototype) exceeds their share, they may have to pay more,” he said.
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The cost of the KF-21 was initially set at 8.1 trillion won ($8.1 billion), but the DAPA expects it to be reduced by 500 billion won to 7.6 trillion won due to cost savings during the development process.

Therefore, even if Indonesia's contribution is reduced from 1.6 trillion won to 600 billion won, the shortfall will be 500 billion won instead of 1 trillion won.

it should have done long time ago...

 

[Nilgiri]

S. Korea approves cutting Indonesia's contribution for joint KF-21 fighter project to 600 bln won | Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense authorities on Friday approved a pla...

en.yna.co.kr

S. Korea approves cutting Indonesia's contribution for joint KF-21 fighter project to 600 bln won​

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense authorities on Friday approved a plan to reduce Indonesia's contribution for a joint fighter jet development project to 600 billion won (US$440 million), about one-third of the original amount, the state arms procurement agency said.

The Defense Project Promotion Committee endorsed the plan amid concerns over Jakarta's commitment to the KF-21 project due to its repeated payment delays.

Indonesia initially agreed to pay 1.6 trillion won, representing 20 percent of the 8.1 trillion-won program launched in 2015 to develop an advanced supersonic fighter. However, Indonesia has so far contributed only around 380 billion won and has recently requested to reduce its total financial contribution to 600 billion won.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the plan covers ways to secure insufficient funds, but did not offer details.

It said the approval considered various factors, including bilateral relations and the possibility of securing the funds, adding that it would properly wrap up cost-sharing talks with Indonesia.

Despite the payment delays, the project is on track to start delivering the advanced fighters, designed to replace South Korea's F-4 and F-5 Cold War-era jets, to the Air Force in 2026.

In June, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd., the country's sole fighter jet builder, signed a 1.96 trillion-won deal with DAPA to start production of 20 KF-21s.

KF-21 인니 분담금 1조원 깎아 6천억원으로…기술이전은 축소(종합)

방추위 열어 인도네시아 제안 수용 확정155㎜ 사거리연장탄 양산하고 추후 유도기능 부여미사일 시험 발사하는 KF-21[KAI 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지] (서울=연합뉴스) 김지헌 기자 = 한국형 전투기 KF-21 '보라매'의 공동 개발국인 인도네시아의 분담금이 당초 1조6천억 원에서 6천억 원으로 축소됐다. 방위사업청은...

n.news.naver.com

As for the KF-21 prototype, which Indonesia was originally supposed to receive in exchange for co-development, “If they want the prototype, we will discuss it, but if the total value of the technology transfer (plus the prototype) exceeds their share, they may have to pay more,” he said.
.
.
The cost of the KF-21 was initially set at 8.1 trillion won ($8.1 billion), but the DAPA expects it to be reduced by 500 billion won to 7.6 trillion won due to cost savings during the development process.

Therefore, even if Indonesia's contribution is reduced from 1.6 trillion won to 600 billion won, the shortfall will be 500 billion won instead of 1 trillion won.

So all in all, reduction in final equity from about 20% to about 8% in the end by Indonesia.

 

[Spitfire9]

So all in all, reduction in final equity from about 20% to about 8% in the end by Indonesia.

It is a long time since I heard any talk of an Indonesian KF-21 assembly line. I presume that plan has been shelved or scrapped.

 

[Nilgiri]

It is a long time since I heard any talk of an Indonesian KF-21 assembly line. I presume that plan has been shelved or scrapped.

Yah 8% sounds way too small for a production line. Indonesia likely gets first dibs on production blocks and options in production schedule in South Korea (compared to outsiders interested in KF-21 with no equity at all). But production line would need heavy equity....doesn't seem like Indonesia is too interested in that....shrug. They have commited a lot of funding to F-15 and rafale, so they are stretched to what they can do here with KF-21.

 

[Spitfire9]

Yah 8% sounds way too small for a production line. Indonesia likely gets first dibs on production blocks and options in production schedule in South Korea (compared to outsiders interested in KF-21 with no equity at all). But production line would need heavy equity....doesn't seem like Indonesia is too interested in that....shrug. They have commited a lot of funding to F-15 and rafale, so they are stretched to what they can do here with KF-21.

Indeed. In any event, ROK suppliers to Indonesia for KF-21 would need export credit guarantees which would cost a fortune: what premium do you charge to insure against non-payment by a customer with a long history of not paying? The only way I see for ROK suppliers to supply Indonesia would be with payment in advance.

 

[chibiyabi]

Indeed. In any event, ROK suppliers to Indonesia for KF-21 would need export credit guarantees which would cost a fortune: what premium do you charge to insure against non-payment by a customer with a long history of not paying? The only way I see for ROK suppliers to supply Indonesia would be with payment in advance.

what happen between indo and ROK cannot see in one perspective or simple point of view like yours. in some article about this case. its explained "...for good relations between Indo & ROK". Example, now ROK is one of the biggest investor/FDI who make invesment in indonesia, even japan surpased.

 

[Spitfire9]

what happen between indo and ROK cannot see in one perspective or simple point of view like yours. in some article about this case. its explained "...for good relations between Indo & ROK". Example, now ROK is one of the biggest investor/FDI who make invesment in indonesia, even japan surpased.

Seen from the point of view of companies that would be supplying Indonesia with parts to assemble KF-21: we must be paid for goods and services we deliver according to contract.

If Indonesia breaks its contracts with ROK suppliers, ROK government is not going to pay them what Indonesia owes them.

Indonesia needs to learn what a contract is. That is what is required "...for good relations between Indo & ROK".

 

[chibiyabi]

Seen from the point of view of companies that would be supplying Indonesia with parts to assemble KF-21: we must be paid for goods and services we deliver according to contract.

If Indonesia breaks its contracts with ROK suppliers, ROK government is not going to pay them what Indonesia owes them.

Indonesia needs to learn what a contract is. That is what is required "...for good relations between Indo & ROK".

like i said before, IFX/KFX case just small water splash in ROK and Indo relationship..we always pay what we buy, like the hawks that are dumped in bangkok, even east indies debt.

 

[Spitfire9]

like i said before, IFX/KFX case just small water splash in ROK and Indo relationship..we always pay what we buy, like the hawks that are dumped in bangkok, even east indies debt.

You do not always pay what you owe. If you did there would not have been the many problems generated in the KF-X programme, generated by Indonesia not honouring payment agreements.

Sorry, I'm not going to spend time looking up the times that Indonesia has not honoured its payment commitments to ROK. There have been many, many reports of this in the press.

 

[urban mine]

여군 최초 KF-21 시험비행 조종사 정다정 소령 "강력한 전투기 개발에 기여" [뉴시스Pic]

[서울=뉴시스] 류현주 기자 = 공군으 5일 여군 최초로 한국형 전투기 KF-21 시험비행조종사가 탄생했다고 밝혔다.주인공은 공군시험평가단 제52시험비행전대 정다정 소령이다.정 소령은 지난 8월 23일 'KF-21 개발시험비행 자격'을 획득하면서 여군 최초로 KF-21 시험비행조종사가 됐다. KF-21 개발시험비행 자격은 시험비행조종사 교육과정을 수료한 이..

www.newsis.com

Major Jung Da-jung, the first female KF-21 test pilot, “contributed to the development of a powerful fighter jet” [NewsPic]

Major Jeong became the first female KF-21 test pilot on Aug. 23 when she earned her KF-21 Developmental Test Flight Qualification. The KF-21 developmental test pilot qualification is earned by completing the test pilot training course and passing the ground academic evaluation, simulator evaluation, startup and ground runway evaluation, and flight evaluation, all of which confirm the pilot's understanding of the KF-21's various systems. Once certified, the pilot can fly solo missions without an instructor pilot.

Major Jeong, a veteran pilot with more than 1,300 flight hours, was the first female pilot to be selected for the developmental test flight course in 2019, completing 11 months of domestic test flight education and training and nine months of practical training at an overseas flight test school before becoming a test pilot.

 

[Chocopie]

여군 최초 KF-21 시험비행 조종사 정다정 소령 "강력한 전투기 개발에 기여" [뉴시스Pic]

[서울=뉴시스] 류현주 기자 = 공군으 5일 여군 최초로 한국형 전투기 KF-21 시험비행조종사가 탄생했다고 밝혔다.주인공은 공군시험평가단 제52시험비행전대 정다정 소령이다.정 소령은 지난 8월 23일 'KF-21 개발시험비행 자격'을 획득하면서 여군 최초로 KF-21 시험비행조종사가 됐다. KF-21 개발시험비행 자격은 시험비행조종사 교육과정을 수료한 이..

www.newsis.com

Major Jung Da-jung, the first female KF-21 test pilot, “contributed to the development of a powerful fighter jet” [NewsPic]

Major Jeong became the first female KF-21 test pilot on Aug. 23 when she earned her KF-21 Developmental Test Flight Qualification. The KF-21 developmental test pilot qualification is earned by completing the test pilot training course and passing the ground academic evaluation, simulator evaluation, startup and ground runway evaluation, and flight evaluation, all of which confirm the pilot's understanding of the KF-21's various systems. Once certified, the pilot can fly solo missions without an instructor pilot.

Major Jeong, a veteran pilot with more than 1,300 flight hours, was the first female pilot to be selected for the developmental test flight course in 2019, completing 11 months of domestic test flight education and training and nine months of practical training at an overseas flight test school before becoming a test pilot.
View attachment 70435 View attachment 70436
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Cool pics in good resolution!

The production quality and finishing for a prototype bird is outstanding. They‘re already flying with drop tanks and IRIS-T air-to-air. Noticed the yellow test stickers on fuselage, pylon and missile under wing.

 

[urban mine]

The official designation of the KF-21 AESA radar set has been revealed.

APY-016K

 

[Afif]

The official designation of the KF-21 AESA radar set has been revealed.

APY-016K
View attachment 70785

Is the processor unit indeginous? Some were alleging it's Israeli.

 

[urban mine]

Is the processor unit indeginous? Some were alleging it's Israeli.

Why are there still people who make that claim? I think it's a problem that's already over with this thread haha.

 

[Chocopie]

View attachment 52273
Elta of Israel helped KFX in the HW Proof System process. At that time(16~19), Korea was not sure of the technical completeness of making AESA radar for fighter jets with our own hands. The Agency for Defense Development and Hanwha developed the AESA Radar HW Proof and tested our technology by leasing Elta's radar power supply and experimental facilities. As a result of the test, the technical level of the AESA radar was sufficient for Korea's own development. Simply put, it helped us test the completeness of our radar technology. Elta's role is that much.

@urban mine informed us already in this thread.

During radar development Koreans built the pre-prototype AESA antenna with power supply unit for hardware verification test at ELTA facilities, airborne and on ground in Israel 2018/2019.

For these tests they used a downsized AESA antenna (military confidentiality reasons) with half of the T/R modules and connected it to the Israeli transceiver signal processing unit and backend (presumably of EL/M-2052 radar).

The Korean project official even said in an interview, the Israelis hadn‘t prepared anything for the tests when they arrived as scheduled. Because the ELTA engineers didn’t expect the Koreans to come up with a real working AESA antenna on time.

As planned the KF-21 Hanwha AESA radar has a domestic integrated transceiver signal processing unit (afaik built by Intellics). The final production antenna use further miniaturized tile-type GaN T/R modules with enhanced output.

Development overview:

 

[Chocopie]

The image I'm talking about is of direct comparison of Korean X-band T/R modules from 2006 until now developed for the airborne AESA development program, to scale. It provides a very good perspective on how far Korean AESA development matured and how smaller the T/R modules have become over time. I've searched on google based on few key words but that image seems lost. Will be great to find it.

Do you mean these pics @Windchime? I‘ve found them somehow as screenshots from an older video and BEMIL pics via Korea Defense Blog.

It‘s only up to 2016. After that they reduced the sizes even more with higher peak output power.

 

[Chocopie]

The official designation of the KF-21 AESA radar set has been revealed.

APY-016K
View attachment 70785

Hm, we basically follow US military designation system for electronic equipment. But as usual with Korean inconsistency and mixing up. Sometimes me thinks the DAPA guys apply their high school English skills when reading US guidelines and understand only half of it, hahaha.

A = Piloted aircraft
P = Radar
Y– = Surveillance (target detecting and tracking) and Control (fire control and/or air control) here it should be G = Fire Control or Searchlight Directing like in US
016 = development start in 2016
K = Korea, never ever without K

Strict US formula:
AN/ = Army-Navy (Joint Electronics Type Designation System)
A
P
G– = usual for fighter jet radars
85 = model number
A,B,C etc. = modification letter
(V) = variable components/specific version

 

[urban mine]

@urban mine informed us already in this thread.

During radar development Koreans built the pre-prototype AESA antenna with power supply unit for hardware verification test at ELTA facilities, airborne and on ground in Israel 2018/2019.

For these tests they used a downsized AESA antenna (military confidentiality reasons) with half of the T/R modules and connected it to the Israeli transceiver signal processing unit and backend (presumably of EL/M-2052 radar).

The Korean project official even said in an interview, the Israelis hadn‘t prepared anything for the tests when they arrived as scheduled. Because the ELTA engineers didn’t expect the Koreans to come up with a real working AESA antenna on time.

As planned the KF-21 Hanwha AESA radar has a domestic integrated transceiver signal processing unit (afaik built by Intellics). The final production antenna use further miniaturized tile-type GaN T/R modules with enhanced output.

Development overview:
View attachment 70794

View attachment 70793

Thank you for being more precise. But I think there will be a lot of people asking that question about KF-21 in the future.(including misunderstanding of the TOT in Indonesia) The end of the misunderstanding is far and wide.

Hm, we basically follow US military designation system for electronic equipment. But as usual with Korean inconsistency and mixing up. Sometimes me thinks the DAPA guys apply their high school English skills when reading US guidelines and understand only half of it, hahaha.

A = Piloted aircraft
P = Radar
Y– = Surveillance (target detecting and tracking) and Control (fire control and/or air control) here it should be G = Fire Control or Searchlight Directing like in US
016 = development start in 2016
K = Korea, never ever without K

Strict US formula:
AN/ = Army-Navy (Joint Electronics Type Designation System)
A
P
G– = usual for fighter jet radars
85 = model number
A,B,C etc. = modification letter
(V) = variable components/specific version

Probably because they want to differentiate themselves from American products. I think it's not a bad idea to go with this name in the future.

 

[urban mine]

https://www.instagram.com/aero_typhoon/

During the National Assembly's National Audit (10.15), the KF-X/IF-X agreement with Indonesia was questioned. The head of DAPA replied that a amended agreement will be reached in November. Indonesia's share will be adjusted to KRW 600 billion. Originally, their share was KRW 1.6 trillion.

 

[urban mine]

South Korea Reportedly Buys 100 MBDA Meteor Missiles | Aviation Week Network

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration has reportedly signed a contract for the purchase of 100 MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles.

aviationweek.com

South Korea Reportedly Buys 100 MBDA Meteor Missiles​

SEOUL—South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has reportedly signed a contract to purchase 100 MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles, in time for the entry into service of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 fighter program.