{"id":253072,"date":"2026-03-25T18:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/03\/25\/kai-s-kf-21-need-know\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:33:28","slug":"kai-s-kf-21-need-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/military\/2026\/03\/25\/kai-s-kf-21-need-know\/","title":{"rendered":"KAI&#8217;s KF-21: What You Need to Know About South Korea&#8217;s Next-Gen Fighter Jet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Translation result <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0067\/image-42c9c716-aec3-45dc-af5b-921d01b3ad9c.jpeg\" alt=\"&nbsp;  President Lee Jae-myung listens to a briefing on the fighter\u2019s combat systems after the rollout ceremony for the first production KF-21 at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, on March 25. Photo: Yonhap News\" \/><figcaption>&nbsp;  President Lee Jae-myung listens to a briefing on the fighter\u2019s combat systems after the rollout ceremony for the first production KF-21 at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, on March 25. Photo: Yonhap News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>President Lee Jae-myung visited Korea Aerospace Industries\u2019 (KAI) fixed\u2011wing production facility in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, on March 25 and said he had confirmed the entire process\u2014from initial production through flight operations\u2014was rigorously systematized.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2011wing production area.<\/p>\n<p>Ahn noted the fixed\u2011wing production building covers about 21,000 m\u00b2 (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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>At the site, KAI CEO Kim Jong-chul said, \u201cWe have built manufacturing capacity to produce more than 50 aircraft annually. We will continue investing to prepare for increased export volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Walking the fixed\u2011wing 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).<\/p>\n<p>He then received briefings on the domestically developed avionics suite\u2014including the AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar that is central to the Korean fighter\u2014and toured the automated production line for the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>On the automated production process, CEO Kim said, \u201cOur in\u2011house 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\u2011thousandth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Lee Jae-myung praised the KAI facility, confirming the systematic process from production to flight operations for the KF-21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0067\/image-42c9c716-aec3-45dc-af5b-921d01b3ad9c.jpeg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>KAI&#039;s KF-21: What You 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