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KT-1 Training Aircraft Production Equipment Moves to Indonesia
KT-1 Local Production Discussion Revealed by Defense Business Administration...KF-21 Dividend Dispute Resolution Should Be Ahead
2025.03.26(Wed) 09:48:23
The local production of the Korean basic training aircraft ‘KT-1’ in Indonesia will be promoted. The KT-1 production facility in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is expected to be relocated to Indonesia. It will take time until further consultation, but if it is signed, KAI is expected to enjoy a win-win effect that will have a ‘prosperity of mass production capacity through additional production space’ and Indonesia will have a ‘stage of aviation industry revival’.
On the 21st, Seok Jong-gun, the head of the Defense Business Administration, met with Defense Minister Donnie Ermawan Taupanto in Jakarta, Indonesia, to discuss the current issues of defense cooperation and the strengthening of defense cooperation in the future. This is the first high-level defense cooperation dialogue between the two countries since the KF-21 leak by Indonesian engineers.
Mr. Seok said, “It is also true that we have been struggling with differences in positions in some areas recently, and we hope to strengthen mutual communication through this meeting, overcome the current difficulties, and further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries.” The statement appears to include a quick revision of the joint development agreement currently under negotiation between the two countries, which reduces the amount of the development contribution originally agreed to be paid by Indonesia at KF-21 to 60 billion won, and maintains a contract to produce 48 KF-21s locally in Indonesia.
In addition, the agency said in a press release that the contents of the consultations with the Director of the Radiological Administration and the Indonesian Deputy Minister of Defense were not limited to the KF-21. A new, previously unknown agreement, the KT-1 Local Production Plan, was included.
The KT-1 is a basic training aircraft developed by the Defense Science Research Institute (ADD) and produced by KAI. The pilots of the Air Force aircraft boarded the KT-1 after the basic training aircraft, mastering the basic tactical flight, and completing them as pilots through the T-50 advanced training aircraft. It has been exported to the Korean Air Force and Indonesia, Turkiye, Peru, and Senegal for twenty-five years.
The Ministry of Radiology and the manufacturer, KAI, did not respond to the specifics of the KT-1 local production plan, but based on my research, it was found that the KT-1 production facility in Sichuan, Korea, was transferred to Indonesia, and all the KT-1 produced in the future will be produced in Indonesia.
According to industry sources, the KAI production facility in Sichuan is currently divided into fixed wing and rotary wing wing, but KAI is unable to handle both the small armed helicopter LAH-1 Miron, the Marine Corps landing attack helicopter, and the FA-50 and KF-21 mass production lines, and it is reported that it needs to “secure production space”. In order to do this, KAI made efforts to expand the site, including the creation of a new round-wing flight center in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, in December last year, but it said that it needs to secure a new production space by digesting the volume of various aircraft such as KF-21, FA-50, KT-1, and F-15K outsourced quantities in the fixed wing.
If the current KT-1 Indonesia production is completed, both the production company KAI and the Indonesian local aerospace company PT DI will benefit. The simultaneous mass production of FA-50 and KF-21 will be smoothed out by emergency volume due to the space of the production plant, and further orders are expected through rapid delivery, such as the Polish FA-50GF project, which was contracted by a quick delivery.
Indonesia PT DI is also expected to benefit KT-1 from local production. In recent years, the Indonesian government has been experiencing a lot of difficulties, such as the temporary deterioration of PT DI's financial situation in the process of reducing government spending. However, by attracting the KT-1 line in addition to the CN-235, it is expected to make it easier to maintain PT DI production personnel and ultimately help the Indonesian aviation industry develop.
However, in view of the positive aspects of this cooperation, the situation is that the defense cooperation between South Korea and Indonesia has not been completely normalized. In particular, it is difficult to determine whether Indonesia will be able to confirm whether the contract to purchase the 48 KF-21s, which were originally finalized in the joint development agreement, will be implemented in local production, instead of cutting the KF-21 share.
According to unnamed sources, the Ministry of Radiology and the Indonesian government agreed to pursue a contract for KF-21 local production at Indonesia’s largest defense exhibition, INDDDEEFENSE, last year, but it was unable to be completed due to the continued postponement of INDODEFENSE. The Indonesian Ministry of Defense, the host of the event, announced that INDODEFENSE will be held from June 11th to 14th. It is noted that the defense cooperation between the two countries, which has been conflicted over costs, will be normalized again.
Kim Min-seok Korea National Defense Forum
[email protected]
