South Korea orders its first 20 production KF-21 fighters for 1.96 trillion won

Korea Aerospace Industries/KF-21 Boramae

South Korea's procurement agency signed KAI's first serial-production contract for the KF-21: 20 Block I jets worth 1.96 trillion won (about $1.41B). Deliveries were to run from late 2026 to August 2027. Hanwha Aerospace got a parallel deal to build 40 GE F414 engines.

• 20 jets, 1.96 trillion won (~$1.41B), including manuals and training.
• Engine contract: 40 F414s for 556 billion won, built by Hanwha Aerospace.
• Radars: 20 electronically steered units for 110 billion won.
• About 600 Korean suppliers; local-content target 65%.