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South Korea unveils KF-21, homegrown fighter jet

Rufus Shinra

Well-known member
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So, SK started working on their new plane in 2015, and here's the first prototype, done for around 8 billion dollars. It was designed in cooperation with Indonesia, apparently, and with technical support from Lockheed-Martin, as made very clear by the plane's appearance. In terms of equipment, it seems to have local avionics (AESA radar, optronics, etc.), Western missiles (European-made and US-made) carried only in external stores and is powered by Pratt & Whitney F414 engines, the ones from Gripen E and Super Hornet. Seoul intends to have 40 of them for 2028 and 120 in the early 2030s.

As the first new "western" fighter made in quite some time, it's telling that they aren't even trying to go for the VLO route, except maybe in a reconnaissance role, as combat will involve external payload. Instead, they went for some cross between the F-15 and the F-22 with a smaller size. In terms of geopolitics, it indicates a continued alignment with the US, at least until they can make their own jet engines. The biggest losers here are clearly the Swedes, as this plane will come with the same limitations as Gripen, but most likely far superior performance in all regards while Gripen is reaching the end of its development course. It doesn't help that the plane, shaped a bit like the F-22 to the untrained eye, so it's easy to politically act as if it was a super-stealth fighter of whatever "generation" the media likes to talk on a given day.

Amusingly, it looks like a huge kit-bash made real, with the F-35's cockpit blending, the F-22 general shape and aerodynamics, combined with the Super Hornet propulsion, from inlet shape to engines. It's unlikely to break new ground, but rather integrates the lessons of the past twenty years and takes into consideration the likely sensor developments of the next ten years: getting a lowered RCS is good, but making tons of raw performance sacrifices for it isn't.
 
I genuinely have no idea what ID's stance is with this fighter. In hindsight, I have a feeling that Jakarta may have underestimated the amount of funding needed to make a fighter jet from scratch. But Prabowo was apparently sighted in the unveiling of the fighter and it has both Korean and Indonesian flags on it's side.

Maybe we're gonna still commit to this project as well as the Rafales and F-15's? Or maybe in the next couple months we'll announcing that we're backing out? I'll admit, three variants of fighter jets (5 if you include the Sukhois and F-16's) is a bold move.
 
I genuinely have no idea what ID's stance is with this fighter. In hindsight, I have a feeling that Jakarta may have underestimated the amount of funding needed to make a fighter jet from scratch. But Prabowo was apparently sighted in the unveiling of the fighter and it has both Korean and Indonesian flags on it's side.

Maybe we're gonna still commit to this project as well as the Rafales and F-15's? Or maybe in the next couple months we'll announcing that we're backing out? I'll admit, three variants of fighter jets (5 if you include the Sukhois and F-16's) is a bold move.
The plane has American parts. The Indonesian military wants a plane that Washington would sanction Indonesia over?
 
The plane has American parts. The Indonesian military wants a plane that Washington would sanction Indonesia over?

We already have the F-16, and we announced intention to buy the F-15EX too. Maintaining funding isn't the craziest thing we could do.
 
We already have the F-16, and we announced intention to buy the F-15EX too. Maintaining funding isn't the craziest thing we could do.
Funding isn't the problem, unless you run out of minerals and palm oil. Getting spare parts reliably is the other. Or are you two too young to remember when Indonesia got sanctioned over East Timor?
 
Funding isn't the problem, unless you run out of minerals and palm oil. Getting spare parts reliably is the other. Or are you two too young to remember when Indonesia got sanctioned over East Timor?

C'mon, if the Indo government did anything close to the scale of East Timor, then we're already fucked.

Be skeptical as you want, but we're not the Soeharto regime anymore. And we'll probably never will be considering his legacy.
 
C'mon, if the Indo government did anything close to the scale of East Timor, then we're already fucked.

Be skeptical as you want, but we're not the Soeharto regime anymore. And we'll probably never will be considering his legacy.
Wake me up when you lock up the Kopassus involved in Timor, the 97/98 riots in the prisons. There's still way too much nostalgia for Soeharto's rule, especially considering Prabowo Subianto still managed to get a substantial fraction of the vote.

And they are still ranting over Singapore hoarding the Indonesia Chinese money that fled to our shores 20 years later.

 
Wake me up when you lock up the Kopassus involved in Timor, the 97/98 riots in the prisons. There's still way too much nostalgia for Soeharto's rule, especially considering Prabowo Subianto still managed to get a substantial fraction of the vote.

And they are still ranting over Singapore hoarding the Indonesia Chinese money that fled to our shores 20 years later.


A country doesn't have to be locking up their former human rights violators left and right to no longer be condoning such a policy.

Like wtf are you even talking about? Yeah, we bitch about SG and MY a lot, that don't mean we'll descend into some hellhole where we'll ganyang both countries, we're doing crap in jailing the worst offenders in Papua too. That don't mean we're doing Soeharto level stuff like bombing the natives and throwing Papuans into the sea.

And Prabowo lost by an even bigger margin in 2019 than 2014. So if anything that nostalgia is dying.

EDIT: That doesn't mean I support such a policy. Jail all those guys that killed students in 97/98. That shit's personal for me.
 
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Thing is, KF-21 would be most comparable to Rafale rather than to F-15EX, but given the timeframe announced by South Korea, it's unlikely Indonesia could get them in numbers before 2030, so Indonesia could still buy a squadron or two of Duckies, because the fighting is most likely going to start this decade rather than the next.
 
What's the difference between the two?
KF-21 and Rafale appear to be in the same weight class, and both have a more modern design than F-15EX, which is more of an upgrade of the venerable F-15. Beyond this, KF-21 is likely to have a lower RCS than Rafale, though the jury is out on whether it will actually come with strong RAM, considering that a 65 M$ price tag is floating around (but not confirmed), avionics and armaments on par with it, etc. It definitely fits within the Eurocanard weight/cost class rather than in the F-15/22/35 one.
 
Here's a video of the unveiling. It's all in Korean though.


Seems like we're committed all the way, didn't expect to see my President speaking for the event.
 
Maybe we're gonna still commit to this project as well as the Rafales and F-15's? Or maybe in the next couple months we'll announcing that we're backing out? I'll admit, three variants of fighter jets (5 if you include the Sukhois and F-16's) is a bold move.
You already did, am I wrong? I remember reading that Indonesia stopped financing it.

edit: nevermind.
 
I genuinely have no idea what ID's stance is with this fighter. In hindsight, I have a feeling that Jakarta may have underestimated the amount of funding needed to make a fighter jet from scratch. But Prabowo was apparently sighted in the unveiling of the fighter and it has both Korean and Indonesian flags on it's side.

Maybe we're gonna still commit to this project as well as the Rafales and F-15's? Or maybe in the next couple months we'll announcing that we're backing out? I'll admit, three variants of fighter jets (5 if you include the Sukhois and F-16's) is a bold move.

Dunno.

If the overal developement cost is really 8 billion dollars it is damn cheap for a -sorry Rufus!- 4? 4.5? gen plane even if partially reliant to foreign parts.

I mean there are countries that poured multiple times the funding and failed miserably.

*Sweating and NOT looking at the Eurofighter or Tejas*
 
Dunno.

If the overal developement cost is really 8 billion dollars it is damn cheap for a -sorry Rufus!- 4? 4.5? gen plane even if partially reliant to foreign parts.

I mean there are countries that poured multiple times the funding and failed miserably.

*Sweating and NOT looking at the Eurofighter or Tejas*
They had a lot of help from the US, TBH, a lot more than Sweden or the Brits got. Most of the aerodynamics work was grabbed from LM and probably Boeing. Both Gripen and Typhoon seem to be much more original work than KF-21.
 
You know I wonder why did they do it.

Help the developement of a direct competitor that is.

Perhaps an effort by both the companies and governments involved to still make money by selling to countries that for whatever reason are reluctant or unable to buy the F series?
 
You know I wonder why did they do it.

Help the developement of a direct competitor that is.

Perhaps an effort by both the companies and governments involved to still make money by selling to countries that for whatever reason are reluctant or unable to buy the F series?
Various reasons, such as what you said, getting someone to provide a very interesting plane for countries in the region that would still make them dependent on the US and...

<_<

>_>

I'm ready to bet a LOT that the USAF would be very interested in this plane, because if it does manage to get to such a pricetag, it would be an incredibly welcome opportunity for them: cheap, modern, made mostly with US tech, capable of filling most roles. TLDR? A Joint Strike Fighter that actually answers the original JSF requirements.
 
I'm ready to bet a LOT that the USAF would be very interested in this plane, because if it does manage to get to such a pricetag, it would be an incredibly welcome opportunity for them: cheap, modern, made mostly with US tech, capable of filling most roles. TLDR? A Joint Strike Fighter that actually answers the original JSF requirements.
I doubt Boeing would agree with that.
 
Dunno.

If the overal developement cost is really 8 billion dollars it is damn cheap for a -sorry Rufus!- 4? 4.5? gen plane even if partially reliant to foreign parts.

I mean there are countries that poured multiple times the funding and failed miserably.

*Sweating and NOT looking at the Eurofighter or Tejas*

Just an FYI that this is the first time we've ever done this kind of collab ever.

Indonesian plane manufacturing is currently limited to producing the CN-235 and the failed N250. Both of them non supersonic, non super agile fighter jets unlike the KFX. I wouldn't be surprised if we are somewhat out of our depth when we decided yes to the project.

This seems like that first time we collaborated with Damen Schelde when building the Diponegoro class Corvettes, we thought we could build some of the ships. But all of em ended up being built in the Netherlands.
 
Just an FYI that this is the first time we've ever done this kind of collab ever.

Indonesian plane manufacturing is currently limited to producing the CN-235 and the failed N250. Both of them non supersonic, non super agile fighter jets unlike the KFX. I wouldn't be surprised if we are somewhat out of our depth when we decided yes to the project.

This seems like that first time we collaborated with Damen Schelde when building the Diponegoro class Corvettes, we thought we could build some of the ships. But all of em ended up being built in the Netherlands.

Well there are various levels of collaboration and whatnot?

The F-35 for example is/was a collaboration project in which while planes are produced in the US various parts are supposed to have been produced elsewhere.

So what manner of collab this plane ends up as will probably be part of negotiations?

Indonesia could very well end with producing certain parts of the plane and an option for buying more planes or somesuch.
 
Lockheed is doing the F-35, not Boeing, and both USAF/USN are increasingly looking for alternative solutions to F-35 because they SUCK at their job. Boeing would probably love getting a contract for 500 or more 'F-25' or whatever it would be called.
What I meant was that if the hypothetical scenario occurs, Boeing would lobby hard to have the USAF buy more F-15EX or whatever, rather than KF-21.
 
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