JAKARTA, March 1 (UPI) -- Indonesia and South Korea are cooperating in building a joint fighter but politics are delaying progress.
The project will produce the KFX/IFX fighter, which is called a "4.5-generation" combatant aircraft, as opposed to the U.S. Lockheed Martin fifth-generation stealth Lightning-II F-35 fighter.
The KFX/IFX' s fighter's abilities are designed to be more advanced than the U.S.-built Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon jet aircraft. The KFX/IFX fighter jets will eventually be designated the F-33, with a capability slightly below the F-35.
However, the entire project will be slow off the mark, Indonesian Defense Ministry official Pos Hutabarat said.
"It will be postponed in 1 1/2 years because the recent transition of power in South Korea," he said at a defense industry seminar in Jakarta. "The new president has just been inaugurated in that country. The new government needs more data to convince the Parliament."
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