KAI KF-21 Boramae

what is it?

The KAI KF-21 Boramae (Korean: KF-21 보라매; lit. 'KF-21 Hunting Hawk'; formerly KF-X; commonly KF-21) is a South Korean twin-engine fighter aircraft. The initial goal of the program was to develop an indigenous multirole fighter for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF).

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 11.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,200 km/htop speed
• range 2,900 kmwithout refuelling
• size 25.6 tmax take-off weight
• built 6made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 4 years ago, in 2022.
• 🏎️Top speed is 16.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.8 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 4 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 2,900 km: 16× Amsterdam to Brussels.

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

2022-07-19

introduced

2026

status

still flying

number built

6

role

stealth aircraft

origin

🇰🇷 South Korea

makers

Korea Aerospace Industries

engines

2× General Electric F414-GE-400K (manufactured under license by Hanwha Aerospace) / General Electric F414

crew

1

length

16.9 m

wingspan

11.2 m

height

4.7 m

max take-off weight

25.6 t

top speed

2,200 km/h

range

2,900 km

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.