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President Lee Jae-myung visited Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI) fixed‑wing production facility in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, on March 25 and said he had confirmed the entire process—from initial production through flight operations—was rigorously systematized.
Ahn Gwi-ryeong, a Blue House deputy spokesperson, said in a written briefing that after attending the rollout ceremony for the first production KF-21 at KAI, the president inspected the fixed‑wing production area.
Ahn noted the fixed‑wing production building covers about 21,000 m² (approximately 226,000 sq ft), roughly the size of three soccer fields, and produces the KF-21 as well as the FA-50 and T-50.
The hangar functions as the final assembly area for the KF-21, FA-50 and T-50, with dedicated stations and tooling to complete aircraft integration across the production line.
At the site, KAI CEO Kim Jong-chul said, “We have built manufacturing capacity to produce more than 50 aircraft annually. We will continue investing to prepare for increased export volumes.”
KAI plans to deliver a total of 27 aircraft this year, including eight KF-21s and 19 FA-50s. The company aims to deliver 31 aircraft next year and 47 the following year.
Walking the fixed‑wing building, where export units are staged along the production line, President Lee inspected aircraft being assembled to fulfill export contracts with Malaysia (13 FA-50s), Poland (14 FA-50s) and Indonesia (4 T-50s).
He then received briefings on the domestically developed avionics suite—including the AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar that is central to the Korean fighter—and toured the automated production line for the aircraft.
On the automated production process, CEO Kim said, “Our in‑house automation technology secures both stability and efficiency. The automatic fuselage mating system aligns the forward and aft fuselage to the center fuselage and fastens them automatically, achieving precision on the order of one‑thousandth.”
President Lee expressed deep gratitude for the work of everyone involved in research, development and assembly. Ambassadors from the United Kingdom, Peru, Japan and Canada, along with other foreign envoys who attended the KF-21 rollout ceremony, accompanied him on the inspection.
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