According to "Reference News", "Guangming.com" and other reports citing Yonhap News Agency, South Korea Aerospace Industry Corporation said on the 25th that the company signed the first batch of mass production contracts for KF-21 fighters with the Defense Business Agency on the same day, including 20 KF-21 fighters, as well as technical manuals, training and other logistical support, with a total of 1.96 trillion won (about 1.41 billion US dollars). The KF-21 will enter service with the South Korean Air Force in 2026.
The research and development speed of this type of fighter in South Korea is really cosmic speed, it only made its first flight in July 2022, and it has not yet been two years now, which is about to enter mass production service, in contrast, the American F-22 took 15 years from the first flight of the first verification aircraft in 1990 to 2005, the F-35A made its first flight in 2006 and entered service in 2016, which took 10 years, and the Chinese J-20, which first flew in 2011 and entered service around 2017, took 6 years. The speed of development of the KF-21 is obviously abnormal.
KF-21 has produced 6 prototypes in less than two years and put them into test flights, and the test flight progress in the past two years is also very amazing, not only completing the test of the aircraft itself, but also completing the subjects of launching missiles and other weapons, air refueling, as early as May 2023, that is, less than 1 year after the test flight, it was announced that the evaluation "meets the operational requirements".
Let's say that the test flight of the new aircraft takes a long time, and many subjects are essential, such as the development of the F-22 fighter, the YF-22 verification aircraft flew from 1990 to 1997, and the 7 years are the test flight of the aircraft itself, which is to test the stealth performance, flight quality, etc., after 1997, 9 prototypes took 8 years to fly more than 3,600 sorties, which includes the test of radar, weapons and other complete capabilities. The running-in of tens of thousands of parts, many design defects or deficiencies need to be modified according to the flight test data, so not to mention the invisible internal structure of the aircraft, electronic systems, etc., that is, in terms of appearance, there are often many differences between the initial prototype and the final mass-produced fighter.
Therefore, the test flight is a process of eliminating hidden dangers and improving the performance of the aircraft, and catching up with the schedule means leaving risks, even Loma, who has extremely rich experience in fighter design.
So why was South Korea able to do so fast? Some people said that first, Loma has given a lot of technical support, and second, South Korea purchases products from the international market shelves.
This may not constitute a reason for compressing the test flight schedule and rapid mass production and service, Loma did give a lot of technical assistance to the South Korean aerospace industry company KAI, and the appearance is a direct copy of the F-22, although the US government has blocked the transfer of several key technologies, but still provides 20 F-35A fighter technologies, but the provision of these advanced technologies can not compress the flight test progress of the aircraft.
Because the KF-21 is a new aircraft, it cannot be exempted from flight tests because it looks like the F-22 and contains some F-35A technology. All kinds of flight limit data, etc., the source code of modern fighter programs has millions or even tens of millions of lines, which must be perfected in test flights. It is not a myth but probably a joke to complete the workload of more than 10 years in 2 years.
As for South Korea's procurement of shelf products, such as F414 engines, Meteor missiles, etc., these have nothing to do with test flights, and it is true that these can be installed on the plane after buying, but whether the aircraft itself can fly safely and whether it can obtain good flight quality is not something that these shelf products can decide.
We are also concerned that the South Korean official admits that the KF-21 has not yet completed all the test work, and there are still some ground and air test subjects that need to be carried out.
A fighter that has not yet been finalized is put into mass production, which is tantamount to leaving hidden dangers and risks to the troops, is it the South Korean Air Force that is in urgent need of fighters? South Korea is now armed with 39 F-35A, 59 F-15K, and more than 160 KF-16s.
So anxious to catch up with the schedule, the only explanation can only be to seize the market, because China's foreign trade FC-31 is close to maturity, this type of new fighter that first flew in 2012, after more than 10 years of development, has aroused great interest from some international buyers, the Pakistan Air Force has announced that it will purchase FC-31, and it has become a new choice for some countries in addition to F-35, and KF-21 This type is not really stealth fighter, it was originally sold appearance, it must be put into the market quickly, Otherwise, who is stupid enough to buy a fake stealth fighter?
Therefore, the KF-21 is in mass production and service for possible customers, and as for defects and hidden dangers, they are not the primary consideration.