KF-21 Boramae

South Korea’s indigenous 4.5-generation twin-engine multirole fighter—blending semi-stealth shaping, an AESA radar, and an aggressive price to replace aging ROKAF fleets and open an export lane for nations locked out of the F-35.

Overview

The KF-21 Boramae (Korean for “Fighting Hawk”) is a twin-engine supersonic multirole fighter developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) under the direction of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). It is the first South Korean-designed aircraft to incorporate a low-observable airframe and an indigenous active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire-control radar, making the Republic of Korea the fourth nation after the United States, China, and Russia to produce a fighter with built-in stealth-architecture avionics. The Block I variant, focused on air-to-air superiority, is now in serial production; the Block II will add air-to-ground and anti-ship capabilities, while the Block III/EX concept aims for full internal carriage and sixth-generation networked combat. The aircraft is intended to replace the ROKAF’s fleet of F-4 Phantom II and F-5 Tiger II fighters, and to win export orders from countries that cannot acquire the F-35 due to cost or political restrictions.

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