South Korea’s KF-21 locally-developed next-generation fighter flew for the first time today. It’s the latest and most significant milestone in what has been, so far, a remarkably rapid development program for a modern combat jet. The event comes only around two weeks after it first became clear that the KF-21 was undertaking ground tests under its own power, something that we reported on at the time.
The first prototype KF-21, named Boramae, meaning hawk in Korean, made its maiden flight from Sacheon Airport in the southeast of the country. While this is a civilian airport, it’s adjacent to the main Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) production facility. It is also home to the 3rd Flying Training Wing of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF).
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The KF-21, serial 001, took off at 3:40 PM local time, slightly delayed by weather, before landing at 4:13 PM. Flying as a chase plane to monitor the flight was another KAI product, a two-seat T-50 advanced jet trainer. The latter jet may have been from the 281st Test Flight Squadron that’s also based at Sacheon.
The prototype Boramae wore the flags of South Korea and junior partner Indonesia on the nose. Unusually for a first flight, the jet was also fitted with four mock-ups of the long-range Meteor air-to-air missile (AAM), carried in their semi-conformal location under the fuselage.
Read more: The Drive
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