South Korea’s leading air carrier, Korean Air, announced on Thursday that it has signed a teaming agreement with US defense technology company Anduril to establish a strategic partnership in the uncrewed aerial vehicle sector across Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
The signing ceremony took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, attended by key executives including Lim Jin-kyu, senior vice president of Korean Air’s aerospace division, and Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril.
The agreement builds upon a memorandum of understanding signed in April, through which both companies have been actively discussing areas of collaboration.
Under the agreement, the two sides aim to co-develop Korean-tailored UAV models based on Anduril’s products, explore licensed production and consider the establishment of an Asia-based UAV manufacturing hub, to be known as Arsenal South Korea.
Their shared goal is to expand into the Asia-Pacific UAV market by focusing on mission-autonomous drone systems.
Additional discussions are to take place following this agreement, with the aim of signing a final deal early next year.
“This collaboration between a leading UAV developer in Korea and an artificial intelligence-powered defense technology company marks the turning point in the global UAV market,” said a Korean Air official. “We will further contribute to Korea’s defense autonomy.”
spark@heraldcorp.com
