On the 18th, Kim Jong-chul, who was appointed the new CEO of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), was seen as likely to focus on expanding orders at home and abroad. KAI was criticized for falling behind rival defense companies after failing last year to win key priority projects, including the geostationary satellite "Cheollian-5."
According to the defense industry on the 19th, KAI, together with Hanwha Systems, bid in October last year for the Korean-style electronic warfare aircraft program worth 1.5593 trillion won, but came up short. The core of this program is to add electronic warfare equipment to an aircraft to create a special mission platform. KAI showed confidence, having developed the Air Force's airborne early warning and control aircraft and the Baekdu reconnaissance aircraft that collects signals intelligence across North Korea, but LIG Nex1–Korean Air Lines won the project.
In April last year, KAI also failed to win the 1 trillion won UH-60 Black Hawk upgrade program and the next-generation geostationary meteorological satellite "Cheollian-5" development project. KAI emphasized that it is the only domestic company that develops rotary-wing aircraft, such as the Korean-style Surion helicopter, and that it has participated in numerous government satellite programs launched over the past 30 years, but ultimately failed to secure the contracts. Korean Air Lines won the UH-60 Black Hawk upgrade, and LIG Nex1 took the Cheollian-5 development.
KAI plans to win a contract in the second half of this year for a very small synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite program (under 150 kg). The core is to mount eight satellites per launch vehicle and conduct five launches in total starting in December this year. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) will evaluate the very small satellites developed by companies and select the final contractor. Hanwha Systems is cited as a competitor.
Industry watchers say Kim may secure the project because he has a track record of managing government satellite programs. In 2013, when the military's 425 reconnaissance satellite program was underway, Kim served as Director General for Planning and Coordination at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and mediated disputes among the military, the National Intelligence Service, and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. He wrapped up the launch of the first satellite at the end of 2018.
A defense industry official said, "Kim has insights into space power because he handled the largest satellite program." The 425 program refers to developing four SAR satellites and one EO/IR satellite to independently monitor North Korea's nuclear facilities and missile bases. Combining SAR and EO, it was called the 425 or "SIO" program.
There is also broad opinion that Kim will deliver results in exports, given that he led numerous projects at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and built his career. After retiring as an Air Force lieutenant colonel in 2006, he was specially recruited into the agency as a Grade-4 official. He then served in key posts, including head of the Defense Export Support Team, director of offset trade, Director General for Planning and Coordination, and head of the command and reconnaissance project division, building expertise in satellites and exports.
KAI has been negotiating exports of the Korean fighter KF-21 with countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. With deployment starting this year, KAI needs to accelerate exports. It must also proceed with deliveries of the Polish FA-50 (FA-50PL). Poland wants U.S.-made armaments installed, but with U.S. government approval delayed, KAI has not yet been able to produce the FA-50PL.
The U.S. Navy's next-generation advanced trainer program is also one of the major overseas projects KAI is aiming to win. KAI formed a consortium with Lockheed Martin and is promoting the T-50N, competing against the Boeing–Saab consortium and others. The contract is expected to be awarded around the second quarter of next year. If it wins, it would be the first case of a domestically built aircraft made in Korea going to the U.S. mainland.