Prabowo to Send Team to Continue KF-21 Fighter Jet Project
President Prabowo Subianto will send a team to South Korea to continue cooperation on the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet development project, also known as the Korean Fighter Experiment/Indonesian Fighter Experiment (KFX/IFX).
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto stated that President Prabowo Subianto and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung discussed the continuation of the project, which has been ongoing since the era of the sixth President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono more than 15 years ago. “The President conveyed that he will soon send a team, both technical and engineering in nature,” said Airlangga in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, 1 April 2026, quoted from a video statement by the Presidential Secretariat.
South Korea partnered with Indonesia on the fighter jet development, agreed upon during Yudhoyono’s administration through a cooperation agreement in 2010. The project continued under the seventh President Joko Widodo and persists into the Prabowo administration.
The total investment in the project, launched in 2015, amounts to 8.1 trillion KRW (equivalent to Rp 95.32 trillion). Of this, Indonesia initially shouldered 20 per cent or 1.6 trillion, while the South Korean government covered 60 per cent and the remaining 20 per cent by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
The KF-21 project was once delayed due to payment postponements from the Indonesian side. Recently, South Korea agreed to reduce Indonesia’s contribution to just 600 billion.
In addition to the arrears issue, the KF-21 project was also marred by allegations of technology theft attempts by Indonesian engineers involved. South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) then requested police to investigate.
The Indonesian engineer was arrested around January 2024 while attempting to retrieve a USB storage device containing KF-21 fighter jet data. At DAPA’s request on Thursday, 22 February 2024, police began investigating whether the data constituted military secrets or other technology violating the Defence Technology Security Act.
In the case’s developments, five technicians from PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) were accused of attempting to obtain sensitive data from the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet development cooperation programme. PTDI is the national industry representative appointed by the Indonesian Government as the beneficiary of offsets (IIP) from the KF-21 fighter jet prototype production in that cooperation. In May 2025, South Korea’s Prosecutor’s Office determined that charges against the five technicians were dropped.
Despite setbacks from arrears and data theft issues, the fighter jet development cooperation continues. On 19 March 2026, about two weeks before President Prabowo’s state visit to South Korea, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported plans to export 16 KF-21 fighter jet units to Indonesia. This is fewer than the initial plan of 48 units.
Airlangga Hartarto said there are still several technical issues to discuss regarding the advanced jet’s development, including aircraft specifications. Additionally, Indonesia hopes for a new payment scheme. “But the hope is that this will be resolved by sending the team there,” said Airlangga.