[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] KF-21 Still Has Mountains to Overcome

238.7 Billion KRW Allocated for KF-21 First Mass Production Project

The KF-21 (Boramae) mass production project is unstable. Although the budget has been allocated in next year's defense budget, the final contract is still pending, leading to evaluations that it is a "mountain after mountain" situation.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 23rd, next year's defense budget has been confirmed at 59.4244 trillion won, a 4.2% increase from this year. Among this, the defense capability improvement fund for military power construction, etc., is 17.6532 trillion won, a 4.4% increase compared to this year.

2.387 billion won was also allocated for the first mass production project of the KF-21, which was missing during the Ministry of National Defense's budget formation. The KF-21 refers to the Korean stealth fighter jet, also known as the "Boramae" development project. It received a provisional combat suitability certification last May. Full-scale mass production will begin next year, with an initial delivery of 40 units to the Air Force between 2026 and 2028, and an additional 80 units planned for delivery by 2032. Initial mass production refers to manufacturing the first approved quantity in the defense contractor's production line. Six prototypes have already been produced, successfully completing over 300 test flights, demonstrating a development speed beyond expectations.

Final contract dependent on next year's feasibility study results

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) intends to proceed with the initial production quantity of 40 units for the KF-21 project as originally planned. The Ministry of National Defense and the National Assembly's Defense Committee share this view.

The issue lies with the final report of the feasibility study on the initial mass production of the KF-21, which will be finalized early next year. This study is conducted by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA). KIDA raises doubts about the success potential and technical completeness of the KF-21 project, providing grounds to reduce the initial production quantity from 40 to 20 units.

If the project is reduced as KIDA suggests, the initial quantity will inevitably be halved. This will cause a gap in the Air Force's capabilities and inevitably lead to price increases. The price per KF-21 unit is expected to rise from around 88 billion won to over 100 billion won. It will also negatively affect exports.

Once the final feasibility study report is confirmed, the plan will be reviewed and approved at the Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee meeting scheduled for February next year. Subsequently, the final contract is expected to be signed in the first half of the year. It is reported that both ruling and opposition parties in the Ministry of National Defense, DAPA, and the National Assembly's Defense Committee strongly agree that the KF-21 project must proceed without disruption.

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