Ⓒ JoongAng Ilbo / JoongAng Ilbo Japanese version2022.07.25 09:40
At around 3:40 pm on the 19th, when KF-21 “Borame (= hawk)” took off from the runway at the Air Force 3rd Training Squadron in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do, cheers were heard here and there. .. Among people from all over the country, or even the world, to see the first test flight of a domestic supersonic fighter. Military enthusiasts, aircraft enthusiasts, and photo enthusiasts who had secured a place for a few days to see from a good place stood out.
Many people from the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which is right next door, watched the “hawks” nesting outside the windows and on the roof of the building. Some people were moved and shed tears. This is the 21st year since President Kim Dae-Jung announced on March 20, 2001 at the graduation ceremony of the Air Force Academy that he would “develop a state-of-the-art domestic fighter by 2015 at the latest.” Because it is. It is difficult to design and manufacture domestic supersonic combat with Korean technology.
However, it is said that President Yoon Suk-yeol, the director of the National Security Office, the Minister of Defense, the Director of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and the Director of the Defense Science Institute did not attend the flight of KF-21. There is also an interpretation that the Yoon Suk-yeong administration did not want this event because KF-21 is the work of its predecessor, the Moon Jae-in administration.
Is that so? The first flight of an aircraft was once called the Maiden flight. However, the term first flight is often used these days because it is pointed out that the term is not appropriate.
By the way, the fact that the aircraft flew for the first time does not mean that it has entered the completion stage. The test flight is a new stage in itself. Check the performance of the aircraft while repeating test flights. Even if the first flight was successful, many models were not mass-produced due to problems and defects in the test flight.
Since the KF-21 is a fighter, we will also test whether the weapon system can be used correctly in the test flight. More than 2000 test flights are planned by 2026.
The first flight is generally quiet. This is the reason why US Department of Defense and US military executives do not visit the first flight of the US stealth fighter F-22 Raptor and F35 Lightning II.
It doesn’t change in Korea. The domestic supersonic trainer T-50 Golden Eagle flew for the first time on August 20, 2002. Then, on October 30, 2002, after completing more than 10 test flights, the Minister of Defense and the President of KAI held the “T-50 First Flight Success Celebration Event”. On April 3, 2006, the delivery ceremony for the first mass-produced T-50 was held in the presence of then-President Roh Moo-hyun. It’s a story of an anonymous government source who knows the related circumstances well.
Initially, there was an opinion that the first flight would be celebrated in a big way, but the development team strongly opposed it. The first flight makes sense, but it’s not the end of development. The development team is busy collecting various data on the first flight. By the way, if guests from inside and outside the country visit the site, they cannot concentrate. I can’t afford to pay attention to the ritual.
Last year, KF-21 held a grand trial delivery ceremony for Unit 1, and President Moon Jae-in attended the event. However, the “Korean fighter (KF-X, KF-21)” project, which had been stranded due to lack of business potential, was decided to be explored and developed in 2011 under the Lee Myung-bak administration, and Park Geun-hye (Park Geun-hye) A system development contract was signed in 2015 when he was in power.
A government source said, “If the presidents were present on the first flight on the 19th, some would have criticized it as a hindrance to development.”