KF-X Project
Chief of the National Security Office Kim Kwan-jin announced on Oct. 28 that the ROK Air Force will produce six Korean Fighter Experimental (KFX) fighter jets for test purposes by 2025.
That day, he attended the House Steering Committee meeting and said so to answer the question of whether Korea is capable of developing key technologies for the KFX Project on its own. “The development of KFX fighter jets requires techniques in 412 fields in all and we are in possession of 90 percent of them as of now,” he remarked, continuing, “The rest can be developed by means of cooperation with other countries or other means and the four controversial techniques are included in this category.”
He added that the air force has worked on AESA radar since 2006 and the development process has already gone through tests on the sea and on the ground. “The AESA radar is about to be tested on airplane and the other three technologies are expected to be obtained through smooth development processes,” he explained.
In the meantime, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration is predicted to launch the KFX Development Corps within this year as an agency in charge of the project as a whole. “The agency will be launched under the direct control of the head of the administration so that the recent controversy over the attainability of the project can be overcome,” the Ministry of National Defense explained, adding, “A budget of approximately 20 trillion won [US$17 billion] will be invested in it, and it will have 70 to 80 members, who will be directed by an outsider appointed through open recruitment.”