Hanwha Aerospace unveils South Korea's first long-life UAV engines

"Breaking into the fighter jet market depends on how much engine technology South Korea can develop on its own. <style ref="s0">We built everything from scratch — every material, every component.</style>"

Kim Jong-ho, head of the advanced engine business team at Hanwha Aerospace's aviation division, made the remarks Monday at a press briefing at the company's Changwon Plant 1, where the firm unveiled its domestically developed UAV engines for the first time.

Hanwha Aerospace on Monday unveiled two types of domestically developed "long-life aviation engines" — a South Korean first — co-developed with the Agency for Defense Development. <style ref="s0">Unlike the effectively single-use, short-life engines fitted to attack missiles, this marks the first time South Korea has developed aviation engines designed to operate for thousands of hours.</style>

Even for Hanwha Aerospace, which has produced more than 10,000 engines over the past 50 years, developing aviation engines was no small feat. The materials and components needed to withstand and then cool internal temperatures that can reach 1,500 degrees Celsius during flight had no precedent in the company's manufacturing experience.

Despite the challenge, the public and private sectors aligned behind domestic engine development to strengthen the export competitiveness of South Korea's defense industry — particularly to escape international regulations requiring a foreign engine supplier's approval before any export can proceed.

As global defense market competition intensifies, cases of export deals being blocked by foreign engine dependencies have become increasingly common. <style ref="s0">Last year, the United States blocked the export of Swedish fighter jets fitted with General Electric engines.</style> Washington officially cited procedural issues with Colombia's fighter procurement process, but the prevailing view in the industry at the time was that the move was intended to protect American fighter jet exports. Domestically developed engines would allow South Korea to <style ref="s0">break entirely free from the cumbersome process of seeking third-country approval.</style>

Engine development is also essential to prepare for future upgrades to South Korea's homegrown fighter jets. "The KF-21 currently uses GE engines from the United States, but it is unclear whether those same engines can still be used when the KF-21's performance is further upgraded down the line," Kim said. "Independent development is essential to securing engines for South Korea's future fighter jets."

Hanwha Aerospace and the Agency for Defense Development on Monday unveiled a <style ref="s0">1,400-horsepower turboprop engine for medium-altitude UAVs</style> and a <style ref="s0">5,500-pound-thrust turbofan engine for low-observable unmanned wingman aircraft</style> — designed for surveillance and combat missions, respectively. Ground testing on both engines begins this year, with commercial deployment targeted for after 2030.

The 5,500-pound-thrust turbofan engine is particularly critical to UAV development. "If this engine program does not succeed, UAV development in effect cannot succeed either," Kim said. He called it "the technological foundation for moving toward future unmanned systems, including manned-unmanned teaming and AI."

Preparations for next-generation advanced engine development, building on the current program's results, are already underway. Advanced engines are defined as those requiring performance at least 15 percent above current aviation engine standards. The company is now pursuing development of a 24,000-pound-thrust engine that could be fitted to the KF-21. "The multi-ministry project — involving the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Korea AeroSpace Administration — has completed its business planning and is currently under project review," Kim said.

Hanwha Aerospace also plans to develop its own derivative products to meet future demand. "This aviation engine development is a government-led program, but we are also preparing to develop a range of derivative engines," Kim said. By spinning off variants — including engines for medium transport aircraft in the 30,000-to-40,000-pound-thrust class, sixth-generation fighters and naval vessels — <style ref="s0">the company expects to secure a minimum of around 1,500 engines by 2060,</style> he added.

The <style ref="s0">new aviation engine factory at Hanwha Aerospace's Changwon Plant 1</style> stands as the most prominent example of the company's investment in engine development. The facility, which began full operation in April last year, has an assembly floor of roughly 2,400 pyeong (about 7,920 square meters), with an automated storage warehouse of approximately 2,500 pyeong. Including this facility, <style ref="s0">Hanwha Aerospace has invested about 2 trillion won ($1.31 billion) in aviation engines over the past decade.</style>

The factory's defining feature is digitalization. Kim Seung-su, head of the production technology team at Changwon Plant 1, said the facility was designed with digitalization as its core principle from the outset. "We introduced a system that makes the entire process visible — from the moment engine materials arrive to when they leave the factory," he said. Among the innovations is a system that automates the torque settings for more than 1,700 types of torque wrenches, a task previously done by hand.

For four key high-volume engine components, the factory has installed dedicated automated production lines. Park Min-woo, a deputy manager on the engine production team at Changwon Plant 1, said each machine requires only one operator, runs 24 hours a day even after workers go home, and leaves employees with only the task of loading finished parts into storage.

Hanwha Aerospace plans to continue large-scale investment in manufacturing capabilities and workforce development. "Most engine materials are sourced overseas, and securing that value chain is the key to domestic engine production," Kim said, adding that the company has been signing MOUs with multiple materials and components suppliers this year. He said the company also plans to acquire the latest manufacturing technologies and apply them to both engine development and mass production.

On workforce, Kim said the engine business requires a large number of specialists, but surveys show only 30 to 40 graduates with turbofan-related majors enter the workforce each year. "We have been working closely with five domestic universities, and have grown our aviation research and development workforce from about 150 people two years ago to 410," he said.