Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), the country’s sole military aircraft manufacturer, plans to develop future aerial mobility to secure a new growth driver. It is also developing a single-seat model of its light fighter jet to increase its share of that market. KAI said on Friday its board of directors has decided to invest 90.9 billion won ($68.8 million) in the development of an autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) and a single-seat version of its FA-50 light fighter jet, which have been exported to Poland and Malaysia. “We have paved the way for future businesses with the key sector’s successes such as record sales last year,” said KAI CEO Kang Goo-young. “We aim to increase investments in future businesses to dominate the future aerospace industry.” The manufacturer of the country’s first homegrown supersonic fighter jet KF-21 reported its largest-ever sales of 3.8 trillion won on a consolidated basis in 2023, up 37% from the previous year, thanks to the FA-50 exports to Poland. Its net profit also nearly doubled to 221.8 billion won, the largest since 2016 with operating profit up 75%.AUTONOMOUS AERIAL VEHICLE KAI, which plans to invest 150 billion won in the AAV development, set aside 55.3 billion won in 2024-2025 for the first phase of the AAV to work on basic and detailed designs based on the shape of its own model and demonstrate key technologies such as distributed electric propulsion and flight control. In the second phase, KAI is set to complete the vehicle manufacturing and test flights by 2028. The company aims to secure approval from South Korea and the US Federal Aviation Administration by 2031 to commercialize the AAA. KAI unveiled a goal to develop a homegrown standard AAV platform with South Korea’s space agency based on the company’s AAV technology demonstrator for the commercialization of a model for both civilian and military use. The company aims to sell 23,000 units of the AAV at home and abroad by 2050.   (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: THE KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY