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KT-1 Woongbi

ICAO KT1

South Korea's first indigenous aircraft, now an export success. Live KT-1 Woongbi positions.

A KT-1 Woongbi in flight
Photo © Ricky Liciandhika Putra · planespotters.net
Airborne now
0
On the ground
0
Operators up
0
Highest
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Flying right now

Live · 30s

No KT-1 Woongbi is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.

Airframe

Manufacturer
Korea Aerospace Industries
Role
Basic training and light attack
Class
L1T — Landplane, 1 turboprop engine
Crew
2
First flight
12 December 1991
In service
2000

Operators airborne

Nothing of this type is up right now.

About the KT-1 Woongbi

The KT-1 was South Korea's first domestically designed and built aircraft, developed jointly by the Agency for Defense Development and what became Korea Aerospace Industries. It gave the country a starting point that later produced the T-50 supersonic trainer and the KF-21 fighter.

It is a conventional turboprop trainer in the PC-9 and T-6 class, and it has sold better than most people expected — Indonesia, Turkey, Peru and Senegal all fly it, and the armed KA-1 version does light attack and forward air control for the Korean air force.

Indonesian aircraft are the most likely to appear here; the Korean fleet operates in airspace this feed covers poorly.

Callsign prefixes

ROKAF
Republic of Korea Air Force
TNI
Indonesian Air Force

How to recognise it

  • —A low-wing single turboprop with tandem seats under a continuous bubble canopy.
  • —A four-blade propeller and a tall, sharply swept fin.
  • —Closely comparable in size and outline to a PC-9 or T-6.

Common questions

+ What does Woongbi mean?

It is Korean for "great flight" or "soaring", the name given to the type when it entered Korean service.

+ What is the KA-1?

The armed version, used by the Korean air force for light attack and forward air control, with underwing pylons for rockets, guns and light munitions.

+ Why does the KT-1 matter to Korea?

It was the country's first indigenous aircraft design, and the industrial base it created led directly to the T-50 Golden Eagle and the KF-21 Boramae fighter programme.

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