Korea looks beyond Europe's Meteor to arm KF-21 with homegrown missile – Korea JoongAng Daily

Korea looks beyond Europe’s Meteor to arm KF-21 with homegrown missile  Korea JoongAng Daily

Hanwha Aerospace and the Hyundai Rotem-LIG D&A team are competing for a $1.4 billion contract to develop South Korea’s first domestic long-range air-to-air missile for the KF-21 fighter. Hanwha Aerospace and the Hyundai Rotem-LIG D&A team are competing to build Korea’s first long-range air-to-air missile for the KF-21. Korea has billed the KF-21 Boramae as its first homegrown fighter jet, but the missile that gives it long-range punch is European. The MBDA Meteor is the missile the KF-21 is expected to carry for now, with the first production aircraft to be fitted with the European-made weapon and delivered to the Air Force on Sept. 22. Now the country is trying to bring that firepower home.

A 1.9 trillion won ($1.4 billion) tender to build the KF-21's long-range air-to-air missile has attracted two parties: Hanwha Aerospace and a team of Hyundai Rotem and LIG D&A. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD), a state-run research institute under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), is due to name a preferred bidder in October and finalize the decision by year-end. Whoever wins has until December 2033 to finish development. Korea is localizing long-range air-to-air missiles because it has little control over the ones it relies on now. Every Meteor is bought from abroad, which means the supplier decides how many the Air Force can