KF-21 Boramae is a beautiful aircraft
Very very stunning
Indonesia did well to join this program
And Malaysia should have joined too
With this 1.3 billion USD development cost that we should bare at 20 % stake, it is the most expensive program that we currently have.
Yep, I still remember in 2009 when South Korea asked Indonesia to join the program, it doesnt take long for SBY administration to accept South Korea invitation. One of the reason SK asked Indonesia I believe is because at 2009 our economy is pretty strong and South Korea acknowledge our aerospace industry capability as they bought around 8 CN 235 planes from Indonesia during early 2000's.
Basically I still remember the moment when I read the news on that Kompas newspaper. This make Indonesian Aerospace has jet fighter program. This is a high jump within our aerospace industry as previous plan to just license build Hawk 100/200 are not successful due to Asian Financial Crisis. So as an industry, Indonesian Aerospace is quite complete as it has helicopter, transport, MALE UCAV and fighter plane programs. The MALE UCAV program is inserted in 2015 during Jokowi administration and currently focusing on the electronic part of the UCAV while the airframe is pretty much ready to fly.
I think this KF21 program will not only bring lot of experience and place to do experiment as we are going to develop our own version based on the plan after the 5 prototype is given to Indonesian Aerospace, but it is likely becoming the source of adequate and constant income for the company as well. The sell of CN235, NC212, and N219 are not spectacular for example as CN235 needs to compete with C295 while N 219 needs to compete with US and Canadian planes.
There is attempt I see from our side to enable Indonesia has export right of the plane for South East Asian region. I dont know about the possibility for this to happen but very possible to happen if KF21 sales are quite strong. If not, then I still can see the possibility for Indonesian Air Force to buy around 100 until 300 planes. Our 2012 defense law will likely push the sale of KF21 in Indonesia as well. That number is pretty adequate to sustain the business aspect of the program as Indonesian Aerospace is also part of the global supply chain of the plane for airframe parts like wing, tail, and pylon.