DIGIVESTASI - Indonesian engineers are being investigated for allegedly stealing technology related to the South Korean KF-21 Boramae fighter jet developed by RI-Korea.

Quoting Yonhap news agency, Friday (February 2, 2024), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) currently suspects engineers sent to Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) of storing KF-21 fighter development data on USB. "A joint investigation involving relevant organizations, including the National Intelligence Agency, is currently underway to investigate the alleged technology theft," DAPA told reporters.

According to sources, the current investigation focuses on whether the stored data contains strategic technology related to the KF-21 development program. As a result of this incident, Indonesian citizens are currently prohibited from leaving Korea. For your information, the fighter aircraft developed by Indonesia and South Korea, KF-21 Boramae or KFX/IFX, is still constrained by cost-benefit constraints.

The reason is that the Indonesian government has not paid the obligations or cost sharing agreed by both parties. In the KFX/IFX joint production contract, the Korean government provides 60% financial support and the rest is divided equally (cost sharing) between Indonesia and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), each party reaching 20%. 

Thus, the total cost to the Indonesian government is around IDR 24.8 trillion. While Indonesia has only paid 17% of its obligations and 83% remains unpaid to date. During the implementation of the program, Korea was forced to bear most of the costs for the period 2016-2022.

As previously reported by Bisnis, the Indonesian and South Korean governments agreed to produce 4.5 generation fighter aircraft. The KF-21 Boramae features advanced technologies including semi-stealth intelligent avionics with sensor fusion, weapon systems beyond visual range, high maneuverability, and interoperability concepts. Apparently, work on the KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft project has now entered the prototype development (Engineering Production Development/EMD) stage which will take place from 2016-2026.

KAI produced a total of eight fighter jets for Indonesia, two of which are still undergoing ground tests and six are flying. South Korea then plans to begin production of the KF-21 fighter jet by the end of 2024, with the aim of deploying 120 KF-21s by 2032.