[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] An Indonesian engineer dispatched to the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), who was trying to steal data from the Korean supersonic fighter KF-21, was arrested.

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration on the 5th, engineers dispatched by Indonesia to KAI were caught last month while trying to leak KF-21 development data in mobile storage devices (USB).

"When an Indonesian engineer left the company, he was caught at the scanner," a KAI official said. "We notified the National Intelligence Service, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and the Counterespionage Agency, and the investigation is currently under investigation."

Indonesian engineers are currently banned from leaving the country. The investigation team, composed of the National Intelligence Service and the anti-espionage agency, is checking the information they were trying to leak. It is also known that there is a possibility of an Indonesian technician's helper inside the KAI.

Indonesia has decided to participate in the development of KF-21 in 2016. The condition was to pay about 1.7 trillion won, or 20% of the development cost, by June 2026, and to transfer one pilot and technical data. Since then, it has decided to produce 48 fighter jets in Indonesia.

Indonesia, however, refused to pay the contributions, citing a lack of budget. The contribution was reduced to 1.6 trillion won at the request of Indonesia, but about 1 trillion won is overdue because it was not paid properly.

The KF-21, which has a total development cost of 8 trillion won, was first launched in April 2021 and succeeded in flying to the sixth prototype last year.

 

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