By Park Hye Ri and Yoon Hee Young
Video = DAPA's official YouTube channel

A computer-generated video of the KF-21 Boramae, Korea's first fighter jet developed with domestic technology, has been released showing the craft flying with domestic unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV).

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) released on its official YouTube channel a 1:12-minute video showing the fighter on a formation flight with three UCAVs in joint air operations over Dokdo Island.

This is the first time for military authorities to unveil the concept of joint operations by the KF-21 and stealth drones.

Using computer-generated images (CGI), the video also features the KF-21 being refueled by a KC-330 Cygnus, the multipurpose aerial refueling tanker of the Republic of Korea Air Force.

The CGIs of stealth drones in the video are presumed to be Kaori-X or a revised model, a strike fighter-size drone without tail wings developed by the Agency for Defense Development. Under development since 2010, the project aims to have the unmanned fighter, with a full length of 14.8 m and a full width of 10.4 m and an altitude of 10 km with a top speed of Mach 0.5 (600 km per hour), fly for up to three hours.

DAPA said, "The video shows through CGI a flight scene of a domestically developed fighter jet and stealth drones to imagine the battlefield of the future," adding, "If the project to develop a Korean fighter jet succeeds, Korea will carry out missions with unmanned aircraft someday."

Developed from late December in 2015, the aircraft was unveiled in April this year at the plant of Korea Aerospace Industries in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do Province. 

President Moon Jae-in said at the unveiling ceremony, "We have set a historic milestone in the development of the aviation industry."

Korea plans to deploy 40 units of the KF-21 by 2028 and 120 by 2032.

hrhr@korea.kr