South Korea’s locally-developed KF-21 ‘Boramae’ or ‘Hawk’ prototype recently completed a 30-minute test flight. The KF-21 was equipped with four mock-ups of the long-range Meteor air-to-air missile and an infrared search-and-track system.
It reportedly reached 400 kilometres per hour (250 miles per hour), below its top speed of 1.8 times the speed of sound
Despite its status as a "state-of-the-art" aircraft, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration designates the KF-21 Boramae fighter as a "4.5 generation" plane
According to the report, the supersonic aircraft lacks features such as an internal weapons bay, that make the aircraft more stealthy
South Korea is developing a new fighter jet to catch up with China and Russia. But military observers believe its new KF-21 fighter jet is far from comparable to fifth-generation jet fighter aircraft like China's Chengdu J-20. However, defense analysts state that the aircraft may be able to fly higher and faster than the US F-35 combat jet
South Korea is now one of only a few countries that has developed and flown a next-generation supersonic fighter. It also indicates that the country is now capable of producing fighter aircraft on its own. It will also serve as a springboard for the development of better fighter aircraft and operate locally developed arms
Russia, China, the United States, Japan, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain are among the other countries developing such aircraft.
