Kenko Aerospace Secures Contract for Military Aircraft IFF MRO Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Kenko Aerospace announced on the 3rd that it has won a 4.2 billion KRW military aircraft Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) replacement MRO project from Hanwha Systems.

The IFF replacement project is a business to upgrade the performance of the IFF equipment installed on about 540 aircraft of 17 types operated by the Korean military from 'Mode 4' to the latest version 'Mode 5' through a contract between Hanwha Systems and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in 2019.

Kenko has already completed the initial upgrade for three aircraft types in 2020, and recently signed an additional main contract worth 4.2 billion KRW, showing a continuous expansion of its MRO sector performance. Since 2017, Kenko has been conducting overhaul for U.S. military aircraft stationed in the Asia-Pacific region, and in 2020 secured a large-scale order worth 260 billion KRW for passenger-to-cargo aircraft conversion projects.

Additionally, Kenko is expecting visible external growth in the future as orders continue to expand in the defense sector, which has maintained the most stable performance growth. Furthermore, with the recent end of the Korea-U.S. missile guidelines and Korea's participation in the Artemis manned lunar exploration project, the domestic space sector market is expanding in earnest, increasing Kenko's potential for domestic market entry. The company explained that Kenko is currently participating in the Artemis and various launch vehicle projects in the U.S., securing competitiveness in the space business sector market.

A company official stated, “Kenko continues to receive orders not only in the defense business, which is less affected by COVID-19, but also in the cargo aircraft conversion sector where demand is increasing due to COVID-19,” adding, “Kenko’s greatest strength is its ability to actively respond to market changes by flexibly managing its business structure and quickly shifting its business portfolio to focus on high value-added projects.”

He added, “Based on various growth engines from aircraft-cargo conversion business to defense and aerospace, we expect to achieve significant performance growth this year.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.