Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has shared new footage that shows the production process of South Korea’s next-generation fighter jet, known popularly as KF-X.
South Korean aerospace giant has released new photos of the KF-X assembly line in Sacheon, south of Seoul.
According to new photos, the first prototype of future fighter aircraft has vertical stabilizers installed, and the second prototype is being assembled with an automated Fuselage Automated Splice System (FASS).
The KF-X (Korean Fighter eXperimental) is a next-generation stealth aircraft that combines elements of a 5th-gen fighter jet.
KAI says the KF-X is one of the most important national projects to replace current air force fighters and to introduce the next generation fighter that can satisfy the future operation concept of force battlefield. Also, KAI is under localization of major avionics part for product improvement by domestic technology. Mission and flight control computer, equivalent to its brain, will be installed to KF-X for ground test and test flight after performance test this year.
KAI started system development in 2015 Dec, went through PDR(Preliminary Design Review) in 2018, began the first detail part machining on February 2019 and passed the CDR(Critical Design Review) on September 2019.
KF-X will be completed by the first half-year of 2021 and the first flight test is scheduled to be done in 2022. By 2026, system development is ended.
