SEOUL: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff endorsed a plan yesterday for the country to design its own mid-level fighter jet, which a state think tank estimated will cost up to $8.2bn to develop.
Dubbed the KF-X programme, the fighter jet is expected to be built by the country’s sole jet builder, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI), after being codeveloped with Lockheed Martin Corp, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Joint Chiefs said in a statement that they had endorsed a twin-engine fighter jet to be developed for delivery starting in 2025. KAI makes the T-50 family of jets, South Korea’s first home-built light trainer and fighter, which was codeveloped by Lockheed Martin. South Korea is also buying F-35 fighters from Lockheed Martin.
KAI sold 12 T-50 variants to the Philippines for around $420m in March, after previously exporting the jets to Iraq and Indonesia.
Reuters
