On Thursday, June 27, 2025, as reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) under the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea signed a contract worth 2.39 trillion KRW with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for the production and delivery of a second batch of 20 serial-production KF-21 Boramae (Korean for “Hawk”) multirole fighter jets in the Block I configuration.
Illustrative photo: KF-21 prototypes / Photo: KAI
The contract also includes continued logistical support, including technical manuals and personnel training. A previous contract for the first 20 units of the KF-21 Block I, under low-rate initial production (LRIP), was signed on June 25, 2024, with a value of 1.96 trillion KRW. On May 20 of this year, a ceremony was held at KAI’s Sacheon facility in South Gyeongsang Province to mark the start of final assembly of the first aircraft.
The first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF, Daehanminguk Gong-gun) in the second half of 2026, following acceptance testing. The final unit from this batch is expected to be delivered in 2028.
It is worth noting that on December 27, 2023, South Korea ordered 20 American F-35A Lightning II multirole fighters under the second phase of the F-X III program, to replace the F-4E Phantom II aircraft retired last year.
On March 22, 2024, during the 160th meeting of the Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee (DAPPC) under DAPA, a low-rate production plan for the KF-21 Boramae was announced, valued at 7.92 trillion KRW, for the years 2024–2028. Earlier, on January 10, 2024, it was announced that the prototype’s initial evaluation had been successfully completed and that the first procurement orders would be placed this year.
Although the originally planned production volume for the air superiority-oriented KF-21 Block I was 40 aircraft under a single contract, South Korea’s Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) recommended splitting the low-rate production into two phases and reducing the total volume accordingly.
The Korean-Indonesian KF-X/IF-X (Indonesian Fighter eXperimental) program has been underway since 2016. However, the Indonesian side has proven to be a challenging partner in terms of meeting its financial obligations. On May 6, 2024, Indonesia formally requested the Republic of Korea to renegotiate the terms of its financial contribution. On August 26 of the same year, South Korea agreed to reduce Indonesia’s stake in the program. Subsequently, on June 13 during the 11th Indo Defence 2025 Expo & Forum in Jakarta, DAPA signed an annex with Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense officially lowering Jakarta’s financial commitment to the program.
According to information released on April 16, the United Arab Emirates has expressed interest in acquiring the KF-21. As a notable side note, today, Major General Ireneusz Nowak, Inspector of the Polish Air Force, became the first Pole to fly in the second seat of the two-seater KF-21 prototype during a six-day visit to the Republic of Korea.
Meanwhile, on June 22, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the United Kingdom and Rolls-Royce had proposed a co-production plan to South Korea, as part of a collaboration in the development of next-generation turbofan engines for the future KF-21EX (Block III) variant.
