South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer responsible for the KF-21 Boramae next-generation fighter, the FA-50 light combat aircraft, the T-50 supersonic trainer, and the KAI Surion utility helicopter.
Korea Aerospace Industries is a South Korean defense company based in Sacheon, founded in 1999. 11 export contracts worth $11.8B with Indonesia, Poland, Iraq and 5 more. Makes FA-50 Fighting Eagle, KF-21 Boramae, T-50 Golden Eagle and 2 more systems.
During President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to Mexico, the two governments signed 17 agreements on September 25, 2026 covering critical minerals, artificial intelligence, defense, and space, including a bilateral defense cooperation memorandum. Separately, Korea Aerospace Industries, POSCO International, and Mexico's aerospace industry federation FEMIA signed a memorandum on operations and maintenance technology for the FA-50, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites. Mexico has no FA-50 on order, and the agreement is framed as a first step toward an eventual sale of the light combat aircraft to the Mexican Air Force, which still operates aging F-5s.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration issued a tender, reported September 24, 2026, for a 14-month, roughly 900 million won concept study of a Korean next-generation fighter covering manned-unmanned teaming, broadband L-, S-, and X-band stealth, a tailless configuration, an adaptive variable-cycle engine, and internal weapons bays. Some officials instead favor a fifth-generation-class KF-21 upgrade, referred to as KF-21EX-T, arguing that a nearer-term evolution of the Boramae would keep the type competitive in export campaigns in Indonesia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia while a clean-sheet sixth-generation design would not fly until the 2040s. The tender formalizes the request for proposals DAPA released on August 21.
Korea Aerospace Industries handed over the first production KF-21 Boramae to the Republic of Korea Air Force on September 22, 2026, ten years and nine months after system development began in December 2015. The two-seat Block I aircraft, flown by Maj. Han Jae-seok, departed KAI's Sacheon plant escorted by an FA-50, a TA-50, and a T-50 and landed at Yecheon Air Base, where it joins the 156th Fighter Squadron of the 16th Fighter Wing, reactivated on June 1, 2026 for the type. The Air Force plans to declare operational capability in the second half of 2027, field 40 Block I aircraft by 2028 and 80 Block II by 2032, and eventually operate more than 100 KF-21s. Sources differ on the tail number, reported as either 25-001 or 26-001.
Korea Aerospace Industries and Poland's Ministry of National Defence signed a contract amendment, reported September 21, 2026, that moves the first FA-50PL delivery from November 2025 to mid-2027 and the completion of all 36 FA-50PL aircraft from late 2028 to early 2029. The delay stems from integrating a US-supplied AESA radar and AIM-9X missiles, which depends on US foreign military sales and export approvals. The 12 FA-50GF gap-filler aircraft delivered in 2023 are unaffected, as is Malaysia's FA-50M program, whose first deliveries are scheduled from October 2026.
Korea Aerospace Industries and PT Dirgantara Indonesia signed an industrial cooperation agreement, reported September 21, 2026, under which PTDI will build 15 percent of KF-21 airframe components. Both companies are still pursuing a contract with Indonesia's Ministry of Defence for 16 KF-21s worth about $2.9 billion (KRW 4.01 trillion), announced during President Prabowo's March 2026 visit but not yet signed. Indonesia completed its KRW 600 billion development-cost share on June 25, 2026, and the first three jets are expected in late 2028 or early 2029. Next milestone: contract signing, date unknown.
The Ministry of National Defense held its first Defense Drone Technology Exhibition at the Seungjin training ground in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, on September 16, 2026, opening a military range so private firms could prove their systems. Six of 17 demonstrations failed: a Korea Aerospace Industries medium jet-powered unmanned aircraft crashed right after takeoff, a second KAI aircraft lost its signal in flight, a direct-impact attack drone crashed, and a drone-launched air-to-ground guided missile missed its target. Military officials from the UAE and Saudi Arabia were among the visitors. Authorities are investigating radio-frequency interference from the large crowd as a likely cause, and a ministry official said the results were "a process of developing better technology rather than failure." The episode followed an August 25 Navy experiment in which an Agency for Defense Development loitering munition fell into the sea seconds after launch on both attempts. Analysts are calling for more test ranges and flight opportunities, R&D funding concentrated on competitively selected firms, a rebuilt domestic supply chain, and long-term procurement commitments.
Korea Aerospace Industries opened its KF-21 Boramae final assembly line in Sacheon to reporters on September 15, 2026, ahead of the first delivery to the Republic of Korea Air Force expected around the end of September during the Chuseok holiday period. About eight production aircraft are due to be handed over in 2026, with the first 40 Block I fighters complete by 2028 and a further 80 by 2032 for a planned fleet of 120. Roughly 30 technicians assemble each airframe largely by hand over about six months on a line sized for more than 20 aircraft per year, routing some 40 kilometers of wiring per jet and drilling 3,400 holes to join wings to fuselage at a tolerance of one-thousandth of an inch. KAI noted that its trainer and fighter programs, from the KT-1 and T-50 through the FA-50 and KF-21, have logged 10,000 cumulative test-flight hours since 2005 without an accident, and said it is preparing additional production capacity should export demand from Indonesia, the UAE, the Philippines, Malaysia, or Peru exceed the current line. Separately, KAI is beginning to fabricate parts this month to convert an FA-50 prototype into a single-seat variant with extra fuel in place of the rear cockpit, targeting ground tests in 2028.
Korea Aerospace Industries was the only Korean exhibitor at the Egypt International Airshow in El Alamein on September 8 to 10, 2026, where it marketed the FA-50 and a KF-21 and FA-50 high-low mix to the Egyptian Air Force. Egypt is running an acquisition for 36 advanced trainer and light-attack aircraft, a program in which the FA-50 competes against Western and Chinese types. No contract progress has been reported, and earlier talk of a deal for up to 100 aircraft is not supported by current reporting. Next milestone: a downselect or contract, timing unknown.