South Korea's Defense Agency for Technology and Quality has issued its first NATO quality assurance certificate under the AQAP-2110 standard to Hyundai Rotem, making the defense manufacturer the first South Korean company to receive official certification that its quality management system meets NATO requirements for major defense products, including the K2 tank.
The agency presented the AQAP-2110 certificate to Hyundai Rotem at the company's facility in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday.
The certificate is the first the agency has issued since it obtained the authority to grant AQAP-2110 certification in March last year, making Hyundai Rotem the inaugural certified company under the program.
AQAP, or Allied Quality Assurance Publications, sets the quality assurance standards NATO member states require when procuring defense materiel. The AQAP-2110 certification specifically confirms that a company's quality assurance system meets requirements across the entire lifecycle of a weapons system — from design and development through production.
The certification is expected to provide institutional backing for South Korean defense firms seeking to enter the NATO market, particularly as the government steps up efforts to expand defense cooperation with the alliance and build a foundation for participation in its procurement market.
President Lee Jae-myung recently attended the defense industry forum at the NATO summit, where he proposed a "Korea-NATO Defense Industry Partnership 2.0" centered on unifying weapons system standards and pursuing joint research, production and operation. He has been actively pushing to expand the K-defense supply chain and secure South Korean participation in NATO's joint procurement market.
The government views weapons system standardization and enhanced interoperability as the first step toward expanding into and integrating with European supply chains. Cooperation on standardization is seen as particularly likely to advance in the area of ammunition — especially 155mm artillery shells, demand for which has surged since the war in Ukraine.
Through the certification, Hyundai Rotem has confirmed that its quality management system for major defense products, including the K2 tank, meets the AQAP-2110 standard. The company expects the certification to strengthen confidence in its quality assurance framework as it pursues further expansion into overseas defense markets, including those of NATO member states.
"We will continuously develop the AQAP-2110 certification regime to actively support South Korean defense companies in entering global markets and to back the government's export-driven defense industry development," agency head Shin Sang-beom said.
rimsclub@heraldcorp.com
