[2023 National Audit] Commissioner Eom Explains Possibility of Halting KF-21 Cooperation with Indonesia

At National Assembly Defense Committee Audit: "If Contribution Not Paid, Reconsider from Scratch"
Indonesia's Contribution Over 900 Billion Won Overdue So Far

Um Dong-hwan, the Administrator of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), conveyed to the Indonesian side the possibility of suspending cooperation for the development of the Korean supersonic fighter KF-21 ‘Boramae’.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 16th, during the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee audit of DAPA, Um explained that in response to the Democratic Party lawmaker Ki Dong-min’s remark that “fundamental measures must be made” regarding Indonesia’s non-payment of its share in the KF-21 project, he conveyed the position that “if the Indonesian side does not submit a payment plan for the 2023-2025 three-year period by the end of October, we will have no choice but to reconsider the entire project from the beginning.”

Earlier, on May 9th, Um Dong-hwan met with reporters at the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) headquarters in Sacheon, Gyeongnam, and said, “Indonesia promised to notify South Korea of a payment plan for the outstanding balance of overdue contributions by the end of June,” but this has not been implemented.

Indonesia agreed in January 2016 to bear 20% of the KF-21 development cost, approximately 1.7 trillion won (later reduced to about 1.6 trillion won), by June 2026, in exchange for receiving one prototype and various technical data, and to locally produce 48 fighters in Indonesia. According to the plan, Indonesia should have paid more than 1.1 trillion won so far, but it has only paid 278.3 billion won and is currently overdue by more than 900 billion won.

Some argue that Indonesia has no intention of joint development, as it has not paid its share for the KF-21 project but decided to purchase 42 French-made Rafale fighters this year and also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to purchase 24 American F-15EX fighters.

Han Ki-ho, chairman of the National Defense Committee, also said during the audit that Indonesia’s current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto is a leading presidential candidate, and “If this person becomes president, there is a possibility of overturning everything. We need to consider a ‘Plan B’ for the KF-21 project.”

In this regard, DAPA stated in the audit report that △ by the fourth quarter of this year, it will receive the Indonesian government’s official position on the KF-21 project, report the progress and promotion plan to the National Assembly, and △ will also pursue revisions to the agreement related to costs and work sharing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.