SEOUL, Aug 16 – South Korea’s defence authorities on Friday approved a plan to reduce Indonesia’s financial contribution for a joint fighter jet development project to 600 billion won (US$440 million), about one-third of the original amount, the state arms procurement agency said.
Yonhap news agency reported that the Defence Project Promotion Committee endorsed the plan amid concerns over Jakarta’s commitment to the KF-21 project due to its repeated payment delays.
Indonesia initially agreed to pay 1.6 trillion won, representing 20 per cent of the 8.1 trillion won programme launched in 2015 to develop an advanced supersonic fighter.
However, Indonesia has so far contributed only around 380 billion won and has recently requested to reduce its total financial contribution to 600 billion won.
The Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) said the plan covers ways to secure insufficient funds but did not offer details.
It said the approval considered various factors, including bilateral relations and the possibility of securing the funds, adding that it would properly wrap up cost-sharing talks with Indonesia.
Despite the payment delays, the project is on track to deliver the advanced fighters designed to replace South Korea’s F-4 and F-5 Cold War-era jets, to the Air Force in 2026.
In June, Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd, the country’s sole fighter jet builder, signed a 1.96 trillion-won deal with DAPA to start production of 20 KF-21s.
