Within 2-years of its first flight the Korean Aerospace Industry’s KF-21 Boramae’s first flight, the aircraft still in its testing phase, has touched Mach 1.8, its top speed and is expected to begin flying in South Korean Air Force as scheduled in 2026, 25 years after the program began. This is the latest in a long list of tests that the test airframes have completed successfully.
Although the Boramae or fighting hawk Iooks like a fifth-generation fighter it is in fact a fourth-generation fighter. It is touted as the stealthiest fourth-generation fighter but lacks an internal weapons bay that would make it a true fifth-gen fighter. Later variants of the aircraft are expected to come with an internal weapons bay.
The South Koreans are making the aircraft in collaboration with Indonesia, who are partially funding the aircraft. The aircraft is expected to replace the F-4 Phantoms an F-5 Tigers of the South Korean Air Force. About a hundred such aircraft need to be replaced. Even as China, across the Yellow Sea from S Korea, is increasing the number of fifth-generation aircraft in its fleet.
Recently, Indonesia has sought to reduce its financial commitment to the program by a jaw-dropping 63%. The Indonesians want to reduce their investments in the program from Won 1.6 trillion to Won 600 billion. The South Koreans say that due to cost-cutting the cost of the project has been reduced from Won 8.1 trillion to Won 7.6 trillion.
India’s own AMCA is expected to have its first test flight and its first prototype rollout in 2027. The AMCA is scheduled to take to the air for the first time in in 2029. A full nineteen years after the program began. The flight test period of the AMCA is expected to be shorter as many of the systems will also concurrently be tested on the Tejas Mk-2 and the TEDBF.
The AMCA, unlike the Boramae, is a fifth-generation fighter and will incorporate sixth-generation fighter technologies in later variants. Both aircraft are likely to go head-to-head for many contracts in the next few decades as many nations would be replacing fourth-generation platforms in that timeline.
Dhruv Yadav
