Under the leadership of new President Kim Jong-chool, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is making a fresh start, ending a long-term management vacuum.
President Kim took office as the ninth president of KAI at an inauguration ceremony at KAI headquarters in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do, on March 19. His term is three years.
President Kim has been evaluated to be a seasoned defense industry policy expert as he has been with the defense industry for about 37 years.
He worked at several positions at the Air Pofrce, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and the Office for Government Policy Coordination.
As for the outside environmental conditions mentioned in his inaugural speech, President Kim said, “Maximizing uncertainties is not only a crisis but also an opportunity.”
He said it is the opportunity is ripe for KAI to make a turnaround, as aerospace technology competition is heating up on top of global security environment landscape changes, such as Russia-Ukraine war and U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
President Kim pledged to make the ‘golden time’ to be never seen again, opening an opportunity for KAI’s growth.
The move is an indication of high-intensive innovation and the institutional improvement of fundamentals.
His message may be construed as his a determination to break through multiple crises head-on, such as winning orders, solving problems and filling the management vacuum KAI had suffered.
KAI president Kim stressed the boosting of defense industry exports as his core strategy.
Kim, classifying defense industry exports as the most certain growth engine, emphasized the expansion of its presence on the global market.
In particular, he said KAI plans to raise the value of its brand with a focus on mainstay platforms, such as KF-21 Boramae, a fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aircraft and satellites and strengthen delivery management and marketing activities.
President Kim made an inspection tour of a field site of mass producing KF-21s upon his inauguration.
President Kim said KAI plans to expand the portion of civilian demand and future businesses, departing from the conventional focus on the defense industry sector.
KAI plans to secure stable revenue base by ramping up its capabilities in the production of aircraft and MRO while expanding the portion of the civilian demand sector on a gradual basis as a long-term strategy.
He also said KAI will expand its business portfolio to AI-based software, avionics, manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T), drone, guided weapons and space projects.
President Kim stressed “one team” as another key phrase.
He emphasized a cooperative structure on the global market beyond competition among Korean defense industry companies.
His move complies with the “Team Korea” initiative the government pursues, and it indicates an expanded possibility of cooperation in the course of landing overseas orders in the form of consortium among Korean companies.
President Kim revealed his determination to raise execution through horizontal communication and organizational integration.
He proposed building a win-win ecosystem with KAI’s cooperative companies as a major task.
He said KAI plans to ramp up the competitiveness of the supply chains through technology protection and support, with the goal of building a world-class aerospace industry structure.
KAI’s Exporting of 16 Homegrown KF-21s to Indonesia Decided
The homegrown Korean fighter KF-21 will be exported abroad for the first time.
The first export of the fighter to Indonesia comes 11 years after Korea began its development in 2015.
A government official said on March 19 that Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will make a state visit to Korea and tour Korea Aerospace Industries, the jet’s manufacturer on April 1 to sign an export agreement.
Both countries are expected to strike an implementation contract in the first half of this year after fine-tuning the final contract amounts.
Indonesia originally planned to introduce 48 KF-21s, but the Southeast Asian country will initially purchase 16 KF-21s due to budgetary constraints.
The Korean government is now in a final consultation with Indonesia over technology transfer and MRO.
Both countries plan to strike a contract in the first half of this year. Indonesia side said they wanted to hold a contract signing ceremony at the site of the maker.
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