Second Test Passed

A still image from the first release of video from an armed test flight of the KF-21 Prototype II fighter jet launching a Meteor medium-range air-to-air missile after taking off from the 3rd Air Force Training Wing base near the city of Sacheon in Gyeonggi Province, Korea, on March 28, 2023.
A still image from the first release of video from an armed test flight of the KF-21 Prototype II fighter jet launching a Meteor medium-range air-to-air missile after taking off from the 3rd Air Force Training Wing base near the city of Sacheon in Gyeonggi Province, Korea, on March 28, 2023.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced on April 5 that a short-range air-to-air missile (AIM-2000) for testing purposes was successfully separated from an armed KF-21 during its flight and store separation test.

Earlier, on March 28, the administration tested two KF-21s. The first store separation test was conducted on the second prototype with a mid-range air-to-air missile for testing purposes and the third fired more than 100 bullets while in the air. The administration checked safety, system operations, structural characteristics, and other functions during the course of the test.

The aircraft has gone through more than 150 flight tests since July last year and those tests covered supersonic flight capabilities, avionics capabilities, and other things.

Future flight tests are scheduled to cover its machine gun and short- and mid-range air-to-air missiles, and those tests will be conducted at high and low altitudes and at low and supersonic speeds.

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