Korean Air Focuses on Stealth Drones... Establishes Development Center in Daejeon

Lee Soo-geun, Vice President in charge of Safety and Health and Operations at Korean Air (fourth from the left), and other Korean Air officials held a plaque ceremony for the "Next-Generation Stealth Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Development Center" at the Daejeon Aircraft Technology Research Institute on the 13th and took a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Korean Air has opened the 'Next-Generation Stealth Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Development Center.' It is expected to be responsible for unmanned attack aircraft deployed in future battlefield manned-unmanned joint operations.

According to Korean Air on the 14th, the 'Next-Generation Stealth UAV Development Center,' which held a plaque ceremony the day before, is located at the Aircraft Technology Research Institute in Jeonmin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.

The Next-Generation Stealth UAV Development Center has decided to participate in the 'Low-Observable Unmanned Swarm Aircraft Technology Research and Demonstration Aircraft Development' currently underway at the Agency for Defense Development, and will engage in vehicle design, manufacturing, flight testing, and manned-unmanned joint operation performance testing. The 'Low-Observable Unmanned Swarm Aircraft' is a concept that performs missions as a manned-unmanned composite system by forming a squadron with manned fighter jets, typically consisting of 3 to 4 unmanned aircraft per manned aircraft, supporting and escorting the manned aircraft.

Korean Air already developed the 'Low-Observable UAV' named Gaori-X1 in 2014. Gaori-X1 is a large unmanned combat aircraft with a length of 10.4 meters, a wingspan of 14.8 meters, and a weight of 10 tons. Gaori-X1 flew 50 km in 1 hour and 30 minutes, opening the possibility for unmanned combat aircraft development. Korean Air plans to develop Gaori-X2 starting this year. Gaori-X2 is an attack-type unmanned combat aircraft capable of independent bombing missions. It can stay airborne for over 10 hours at a speed of Mach 0.8. Because of this, it is called the 'Mini B-2 Bomber.' The B-2 Bomber is one of the United States' three major strategic weapons and has a manta ray-like shape. It adds stealth capabilities to existing strategic bombers, making it appear as small as a bird on radar, making identification impossible. Its greatest strength is the ability to conduct solo operations without escort fighters.

Industry insiders expect that Gaori-X2, being a stealth aircraft, will basically be equipped with various bombs and missiles in internal weapon bays. It is known that existing bombs such as KGGB (Korean Guided Bomb) will be modified or new small missiles will be developed and equipped. Additionally, a 5,500 to 10,000-pound class turbofan engine for stealth UAVs, currently under development by domestic defense companies, is expected to be developed.

Gaori-X2 can engage in combat with the enemy ahead of manned fighters penetrating enemy lines or perform reconnaissance missions to ensure pilot safety, and it can flexibly respond to sudden changes in battlefield situations.

A Korean Air official said, “Based on long-accumulated UAV development capabilities, we plan to pioneer the mass production and export market of medium-to-high altitude strategic UAVs,” adding, “We will lead the cutting-edge UAV market by securing core technologies such as manned-unmanned composite squadrons, swarm control, and autonomous mission execution.”

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