On July 18, South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff recently announced plans of developing a high-tech next generation fighter jet in order to upgrade their current lineup of aging KF-16s and KF-15s. The development program will be called the KF-X or Boramae, and it will be built by Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI). The catch? It will cost a lot of money--$8.5 trillion won to be exact (approx. $8.2 billion USD).

Aside from development costs, the cost to build 120 of these next generation aircraft is estimated to be around $26 billion USD. The reason behind this expense is because the new fighter jet will run on twin engines as opposed to a single engine. While single engines cost less to make, double-engined jets are superior in terms of operation capability and efficiency. Furthermore, you can load more weapons (higher ordnance) on a double-engine jet and it travels at much faster rates.

South Korea hope to have 120 next generation jets by 2025, despite the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) request to stick with the single-engine jet to save on costs. The Korean Air Force will also be purchasing 40 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. for $7.34 trillion won (approx. $7.1 billion USD).

Currently, KAI makes the indigenous T-50 Golden Eagle jet. The Philippines purchased 12 T-50 variants back in March for around $420 million. In 2011, Indonesia purchased 16 T-50 jets for $400 million.