The  Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) has been put into service a new KT-100 training aircraft developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), repoted by newsis.com.

The KT-100 is a basic trainer variant of the KC-100 Naraon light aircraft developed for replace the ageing fleet of Ilyushin T-103 aircraft in service with the ROKAF.

The Air Force Academy rolled out the KT-100 during a ceremony at Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, celebrating the delivery of two trainer aircraft from the country’s sole aircraft maker, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).

The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KT-100 single-engine light aircraft made its maiden flight on Oct. 5 2015.

It said the new model will replace the aging Russian-made Ilyushin T-103s that have been used to train beginner-level cadets.

“The Air Force is expected to acquire some 20 planes from KAI and begin training its instructors by the end of this year,” an Air Force official said. “We plan to train cadets with it starting from 2017.”

The power-plant of KT-100 trainer integrates a single TSIOF-550-K engine supplied by Continental Motors. The engine, fitted with full-authority digital engine controls, generates a power of 315hp at 2,500rpm.

The KT-100 has a length of 8m, a wing span of 11.2m and a height of 2.7m. It has a maximum take-off weight of 1.63t and can accommodate a maximum payload of approximately 500kg, whereas the empty weight is 1,080kg.