The first domestic fighter developed with domestic technology is scheduled to be released next month, so attention is focused.
According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) on the 1st, the first prototype of the Korean fighter (KF-X) will be unveiled at the release ceremony in April. It has been 20 years since then, in March 2001, President Kim Dae-jung announced the development of a Korean fighter jet at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy.
The launch ceremony of the KF-X prototype is a place where the fighter on the blueprint is completed in real life and is open to the public for the first time out of the hangar. However, it is not possible to fly right away by entering the stage of starting a verification such as a ground test.
The KF-X is scheduled to fly for the first time in July of next year after a one-year ground test after the prototype release ceremony. After that, the prototypes 1-6 must successfully complete flight tests of 2,200 sorts (number of flights) over 4 years. It ends.
Nevertheless, considering that it is the first fighter to be developed in Korea, the launching ceremony of Prototype 1 itself is a monumental event for the military or aviation industry, explained Bangsaeng.
The KF-X is 16.9m long, 4.7m high, and 11.2m wide, a bit larger than the American fighter F16 and similar to the F18. The maximum thrust is 4,400 lb (pounds), the maximum takeoff weight is 25,600 kg, and the maximum payload is 7700 kg. The maximum speed is Mach 1.81 (2200 km per hour) and the range is 2900 km. It can be equipped with European METEOR air-to-air missiles and German Dill’s air-to-air missiles (AIM-2000), as well as long-range air-to-ground guided missiles currently being developed in Korea.
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