The domestic fighter jet "Falcon" from South Korea has completed its initial operational evaluation. On May 16th, the South Korean Defense Agency stated that the domestically produced supersonic fighter jet "Falcon" (KF-21) has received a preliminary evaluation conclusion of "meeting operational requirements" and is expected to be mass-produced from next year. "Falcon" is a twin engine fighter being developed by South Korea. Part of it adopts stealth design and is equipped with phased array radar. It can carry a variety of air-to-air missile, air to ground missiles and guided bombs. Its overall level has reached the level of four and a half generations. South Korea plans to develop a "Falcon" fighter jet equipped with a built-in missile compartment in the second phase, reaching the level of a fifth generation aircraft. The prototype KF-214, which is currently undergoing test flights, was reported to have successfully flown for the first time in July 2022. Since then, its supersonic flight capability, nighttime flight safety, and the performance of an active phased array radar system have been verified through more than 200 flights. In April this year, the second prototype of KF-21 successfully conducted the separation test of the AIM-2000 air-to-air missile for the first time. In addition, KF-21 has also completed validation of over 260 indicators such as flight speed, combat radius, takeoff and landing distance in various experiments over the past two years. The Defense Department stated that, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, Joint Staff Headquarters, Air Force, developers, etc., the KF-21 has completed the highly challenging prototype flight test and has been evaluated to meet its various performance requirements. According to the report, the Defense Agency will continue to further evaluate its stability and performance in low altitude, high altitude, low speed, supersonic and other flight fields in the future, and conduct tests on aerial refueling, air-to-air missile guided launch, electronic warfare equipment, etc. The Defense Department plans to mass produce the first batch of KF-21s starting from next year, striving for a final evaluation of "compliance with operational requirements" by 2026, and delivering them to the Air Force in the second half of the same year. It is worth mentioning that prototype 5 of the Falcon (KF-21) fighter jet successfully flew on the afternoon of May 16th. The prototype Falcon 5 took off at 2:19 pm on the same day from Sichuan City, Gyeongsangnam do, and successfully flew for 45 minutes over the South China Sea. It is reported that the prototype aircraft No. 5 is a single seat design and will be used to test the performance of the active electronic control array (AESA) radar system in the future. In the second half of the year, aerial refueling test will be carried out. As a result, the first, second, third, and fifth prototypes of the "Falcon" with a single seat design were all successfully tested, while the remaining fourth and sixth prototypes were designed with two seats. The fourth prototype successfully flew for the first time in February this year, and the sixth prototype is scheduled to fly for the first time in June. If the test flight of prototype 6 is successful, all prototype flights of the Falcon will be successful. (Outlook New Era Network)