South Korea, India Race to Develop Homegrown Stealth Fighters

In a display of rising technological prowess and military ambition, South Korea and India are locked in a race to develop their own advanced 5th-generation fighter jets.

The KF-21 Boramae ("Hawk") and the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), as their respective programs are known, aim to bolster national security and propel both nations into an elite group of countries capable of producing cutting-edge military aircraft.

Drive for Self-Reliance​

A core motivation for both programs is reducing dependence on foreign arms suppliers. By developing their own 5th-generation fighters, South Korea and India seek greater control over their defense capabilities and a boost to their domestic aerospace industries.

Cutting-Edge Ambitions​

Both the KF-21 and AMCA are designed to incorporate the hallmarks of 5th-generation fighters: stealth, supercruise abilities (sustained supersonic flight), and advanced sensors.

These characteristics, coupled with their intended multi-role capabilities, promise to give both nations a significant edge in regional air combat.

Collaboration and Challenges​

While the drive for self-reliance is strong, international partnerships play a role. Indonesia is a partner in the KF-21 program, while India explores potential technology collaborations for its AMCA.

Both nations, however, face the daunting challenge of developing advanced engine technology and stealth materials – hurdles that may necessitate foreign assistance or significant domestic investment.

National Needs, Subtle Differences​

Specific threats and operational environments will shape the final designs. The AMCA, for example, might prioritize agility for operations in the mountainous Himalayan region, while the KF-21 could focus on the extended range needed for potential East China Sea conflicts.

Where Things Stand​

South Korea's KF-21 appears slightly ahead, having conducted successful test flights. India's AMCA is still in earlier development phases. Ultimately, overcoming technical obstacles, securing funding, and maintaining political will shall determine the success of these ambitious endeavors.

 

[alpha numeric]

How many powerhouses you need with 500 miles of each other.

Need ? This has nothing to do with need. What a weird way to phrase a question.

 

[Anant]

Hehehe! South Korea is just next to China & Japan. How can you call South Korea as a regional powerhouse. Moreover, most of SK's technology is having USA IPR and critical tooling is mostly imported from USA. Where is the powerhouse in being an importer?

South Korea can well claim to be a powerhouse despite using a lot of American technology for three reasons:

1. They are actively working on multiple indigenous solutions, and are showing quite good progress on those, which means the American dependency would reduce over the next decade or two.
2. South Korea has a mature defence industry, and they are able to (for the most part) stay on with the cutting edge of technology.
3. South Korea doesn't face the same threat of sanctions from America as a nation like India does. Being a treaty ally of the US does mean a number of aspects of their foreign policy are subordinate to the US, but it also means they won't get sanctioned unless something truly massive changes. Someone like Bhikaristan, on the other hand, despite being a major non-NATO ally, can get sanctioned far more easily. Also, this dependence would reduce over time (refer Point 1).

 

[Anant]

Two main adversaries of South Korea - China and North Korea -are nuclear, ICBM , Hypersonic powers with fare degree of self reliance while South Korea doesn't have those capabilities and heavily relies on US for technology, military platforms and sub systems. Comparison is erroneous.

Not quite. East Asia has a lot of powerhouses when seen from a global perspective. Indeed, the only nation that isn't a powerhouse in that region is North Korea.

You mentioned North Korea has nuclear weapons and ICBMs. You do realise that in a war, South Korea knows that they would be facing massive levels of casualties, right? They have taken steps to the best of their ability to counter that. As for North Korea, however, take away their 10 nukes and 50 ICBMs, and what you have is something even Bangladesh or Bhikraistan could run over.

 

[Pad UwU]

Author is drunk ...
Kf21 is ahead in all aspect against AMCA....
Kf21 mk1 has 40+ order from it's air force this year... While trying to perfect it's mk2 before 2028/30 before finally saying it's a 5gen on it's own for real... Unlike our own so called AMCA that is still no where to br found LMAO 😹😹😹, our delululandia folks still hoping for it to show up on it's paper tiger over engineered on paper spec's 🙃😜...

 

[Pad UwU]

Not quite. East Asia has a lot of powerhouses when seen from a global perspective. Indeed, the only nation that isn't a powerhouse in that region is North Korea.

You mentioned North Korea has nuclear weapons and ICBMs. You do realise that in a war, South Korea knows that they would be facing massive levels of casualties, right? They have taken steps to the best of their ability to counter that. As for North Korea, however, take away their 10 nukes and 50 ICBMs, and what you have is something even Bangladesh or Bhikraistan could run over.

In honest opinion bruh... Nuke is still nukes or whatever it is even Japan is said by Chinese research group has a capability of developing nuke weapons in just 3~5yrs by 1000pcs if they choose to go full economic war mode kakakakak 😹😹😹...
We can't change anything on North Koreas capability of having nukes in it's arsenal...whatever they have left is backward technology has been slowly being replaced by the help of it's secret friends 🙃

 

[Pad UwU]

Hehehe! South Korea is just next to China & Japan. How can you call South Korea as a regional powerhouse. Moreover, most of SK's technology is having USA IPR and critical tooling is mostly imported from USA. Where is the powerhouse in being an importer?

They are still a powerhouse in different ways.... You can't deny its reality whatever your reasoning.... Same as India we have our differences between our neighboring enemies

 

[Pink Panther]

Is South Korea a real regional power or the author got his grammar wrong.

When ADA draws AMCA picture looking at the picture of KF-21, why wouldn’t those two pictures have striking similarity, but one is real another one is still a beautiful picture to feel proud about and to compare against the real ones.

 

[Pad UwU]

South Korea can well claim to be a powerhouse despite using a lot of American technology for three reasons:

1. They are actively working on multiple indigenous solutions, and are showing quite good progress on those, which means the American dependency would reduce over the next decade or two.
2. South Korea has a mature defence industry, and they are able to (for the most part) stay on with the cutting edge of technology.
3. South Korea doesn't face the same threat of sanctions from America as a nation like India does. Being a treaty ally of the US does mean a number of aspects of their foreign policy are subordinate to the US, but it also means they won't get sanctioned unless something truly massive changes. Someone like Bhikaristan, on the other hand, despite being a major non-NATO ally, can get sanctioned far more easily. Also, this dependence would reduce over time (refer Point 1).

South Korea is different league of its own in short sentence 😺

 

[Pad UwU]

You are absolutely correct. Calling South Koreas as a regional powerhouse is absurd. North Korea has nukes & ICBM, China is manufacturing powerhouse and even a superpower that produces over half the world's consumer durables. Japan is another manufacturing hub. All of these are just next to South Korea. Moreover, South Korea heavily relies on USA technology & tooling. Nothing powerful about SK

We just need to wait if both goes to war so you can decide who's the best title goes too🙃😹

 

[Pad UwU]

KF-21 Block -3 is 5th Gen Fighter, while AMCA MK2 will b 6th Gen Features upgraded. atlast AMCA will b step ahead at the end.Most of the Tech is Being developed on its own while Korea is taking help of western countries.

AMCA is 5gen on paper only 🙃

 

[Pad UwU]

Noice, they will both also use same GE-F414 engines.

Looking at HAL's propensity to promise the moon but deliver a lemon. India should buy KF-21 instead and rename them as HAL AMCA Mk-1A.

Kisi ko pataa bhi nahin chalega.

Good suggestion bruh... developing AMCA is just waste of time. Just buy kf21 in big numbers or get rights of putting our own electronics init like what Israel have frome f35i adir version

 

[Pad UwU]

Major difference - KF-21 is 4.5 gen fighter whereas AMCA is 5.5 gen fighter.
KF21 does not hv internal weapon bay.

Kf21 mk1 is already said a cheaper version of 4.5gen with some 5gen characteristics
While it's mk2 version would be having an internal bay and be now called a 5gen....
Mk3 might be the real deal and can be line up with f35's capabilities....

Unlike AMCA it's still a delulu dream on paper 😹😹😹

 

[CCPSmasher]

Not to forget , most of technology from USA & NATO...

It's like 20% their tech and rest of NATO

Who cares. It's flying and working. St00pid cvnt like you pretend like our fighters like Tejas is all inhouse solutions in its entirety.

 

[shivkumar sinha]

Not quite. East Asia has a lot of powerhouses when seen from a global perspective. Indeed, the only nation that isn't a powerhouse in that region is North Korea.

You mentioned North Korea has nuclear weapons and ICBMs. You do realise that in a war, South Korea knows that they would be facing massive levels of casualties, right? They have taken steps to the best of their ability to counter that. As for North Korea, however, take away their 10 nukes and 50 ICBMs, and what you have is something even Bangladesh or Bhikraistan could run over.

I am not a fan of NK , but you should know that NK has a very recent history of nuclear weapons, roughly about a decade ago. Even before that ,US has to deploy about 28,000 American forces on South Korea to defend it . US fighting side by side with South Korean forces had to sign only an armistice, not a peace treaty with NK in 1953 .It is true that South Korea is working hard on technology front and has a growing economy but still far from being an independent power . Its status in the region is only of American protectorate nation.

 

[Pink Panther]

KF-21 Block -3 is 5th Gen Fighter, while AMCA MK2 will b 6th Gen Features upgraded. atlast AMCA will b step ahead at the end.Most of the Tech is Being developed on its own while Korea is taking help of western countries.

Why only 6th gen, dreams have no limits, be generous and call it 1000th or even millionth gen.

 

[Pink Panther]

We have already missed Mk2’s deadlines. So timely development is not possible.

As for 2035, even Mk2 won’t be inducted by then, forget AMCA.

For that we are not spending $40Bln.

 

[Oleg Olkha]

The new generation aircraft, in terms of juggling numbers, (4.5, 4.5+, 5, 100500...) is absolutely senseless business. Аircraft can be a previous project a well sorted and upgraded with advanced weapons and EW. However, this does not eliminate the need for serious investment in the development of aircraft! Regards...

 

[Joshua26]

The new generation aircraft, in terms of juggling numbers, (4.5, 4.5+, 5, 100500...) is absolutely senseless business. Аircraft can be a previous project a well sorted and upgraded with advanced weapons and EW. However, this does not eliminate the need for serious investment in the development of aircraft! Regards...

I agree that all the time changing aircraft numbers can appear to be a marketing ploy. It is important to prioritize meaningful upgrades and advances in technology, such as upgraded weapons and combat systems, rather than simply changing designations. Genuine improvement takes significant development efforts and resources.

 

[oliver889]

I agree that all the time changing aircraft numbers can appear to be a marketing ploy. It is important to prioritize meaningful upgrades and advances in technology, such as upgraded weapons and combat systems, rather than simply changing designations. Genuine improvement takes significant development efforts and resources.

It’s like you can only polish a turd so much before you need a whole new design to really make a difference.