KAI Aims to Conclude Final Negotiations with Indonesia for the KF-21 in the First Half of This Year

19 Februari 2026

For the batch one, Indonesia plans to purchase 16 KF-21 Boramae (IF-X) fighters (photo: KAI)

[Financial News] Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) will conclude final negotiations with Indonesia regarding the KF-21 within the first half of this year. Through this, the company aims to achieve its guidance for orders of 10.4383 trillion won and sales of 5.7306 trillion won this year. It is expected to achieve sales of over 5 trillion won for the first time since its founding.

According to industry sources on the 12th, KAI stated in a recent conference call, "The key to this order target is the first export of the KF-21. The initial batch of KF-21s is included within the 6.5 trillion won export target for finished aircraft." The company added, "We are striving to conclude final negotiations with Indonesia within the first half of this year."

The Indonesian delivery schedule is under negotiation, and we are negotiating the Indonesian delivery schedule as there is a remaining supply to the South Korean government,” he said.

South Korea and Indonesia are jointly developing the KF-21 (Indonesian name: IF-X) fighter jet project, sharing a project cost of 8.1 trillion won from 2015 to 2026. In January 2016, Indonesia agreed to bear 20% of the KF-21 development cost, approximately 1.7 trillion won (later reduced to approximately 1.6245 trillion won), until June 2026, in exchange for the transfer of one prototype and various technical data, and to produce 48 fighter jets locally in Indonesia.

In the latter half of last year, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto met with President Lee Jae-myung and said, “We will continue follow-up discussions on the KF-21 project,” adding, “I understand that discussions related to this are ongoing, and discussions are also being held on economic feasibility, such as price and funding plans, and this is happening not only among government officials but also among technical staff. "Various discussions are underway," he said.

President Lee Jae-myung said, "In the military and security fields, we have established a deep cooperative relationship, such as the joint development of fighter jets, and I hope that we can continue this cooperative relationship so that it can be looked back on with greater results."

(Financial News)