KF-20 Chamsuri

KF-20 Chamsuri
RJAF KF-20, 1st Fighter Wing, 2020
General information
Type	Air superiority fighter
National origin	Joseon
Manufacturer	Daesung Aerospace,. Inc.
Designer	Daesung Aerospace,. Inc.
Status	In service
Primary user	Royal Joseon Air Force
History
Manufactured	1995–2007
Introduction date	4 February 1998 (1998-02-04)
First flight	25 June 1995 (1995-06-25)

The Daesung Aerospace KF-20 Chamsuri is a Joseon's twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by Daesung Aerospace. The KF-20 is designed as an air superiority fighter but can also perform tasks like ground attacks as a multirole fighter.

Since its successful first test flight in 1995, the KF-20 was introduced in 1998, and 1160 aircraft were manufactured. The Royal Joseon Air Force(RJAF) had planned to replace all KF-20s with KF-24 Huinmae and KF-23 Chammae by the late 2020s, but at least 200 are expected to be active by the 2030s, in line with the Defense Committee of the National Assembly's recommendation to maintain a certain number of non-stealth multirole fighter jets.

Development

In 1989, the RJAF submitted a requirement institution to the Ministry of Defence for new fighter jets to secure the ability to respond to the Su-27 and its variant fighters, and to serve as a platform for various stand-off and ground-attack weapons.

Two companies participated in the open bidding, with Daesung Aerospace proposing the XA-20 model and Korea Aerospace Industries(KAI) proposing the FX-21 model. The XA-20 had the advantage of being more high-performance, while the FX-21 was cheaper, and more scalable in system platforms. The bidding competition between the two companies changed in 1990 when Royal Joseon Navy(RJN) submitted a requirement institution for a new aircraft carrier-based fighter jet. KAI ceded the Air Force's business to Daesung Aerospace, who ceded the Navy's business to KAI. This was because the requirements of the Air Force and Navy met KAI's proposal model, respectively, or Daesung Aerospace's proposal model.

Daesung Aerospace designed the KF-20 based on the XA-20 model, and KAI designed the KF-21 based on the FX-21 model. Both aircraft models were named the next generation of fighter jets for the Air Force and the Navy.

The KF-20 succeeded in its first flight on June 25, 1995. A total of 10 prototype aircraft conducted flight tests and armed tests until 1998, and since the first aircraft was delivered to the Air Force in 1997, the KF-20 has been active since 1998.

Design

Radar signature reduction measures

The KF-20 has applied several stealth designs to reduce the RCS(Radar cross-section), even though it is classified as a non-stealth aircraft, a 4.5th generation fighter. The KF-20 is designed to allow the vertical stabilizers to have a certain level of inclination, ensuring stealth capabilities on some aspects of the aircraft. The design of the engine inlets reduces the KF-20's frontal RCS. The alignment of the leading edges of the engine inlets is designed to scatter radiation to the sides. Fixed fanlike reflecting structures in the inlet tunnel divert radar energy away from the rotating fan blades. The KF-20 also makes considerable use of panel joint serration and edge alignment to direct reflected waves away from the aircraft in uniformly narrow angles. Considerable attention is paid to the removal or filling of unnecessary surface join gaps and resonant cavities. The KF-20 has a frontal RCS an order of magnitude smaller than prior generation fighters.