The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, promised to accelerate the development of aircraft materials and parts in cooperation with Korean Air the representative airline in Korea. KIMS signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korean Air for the development of aircraft materials and part technology at the ‘2023 Drone show Korea’ held at BEXCO, Busan on February 23 (Thursday). With the signing of this agreement, the two organizations expressed their aspirations to lead the unmanned aerial vehicle industry, which has a high potential for future growth, and to achieve localization of materials and parts technology to energize the development of related industries.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft that can be used for multiple purposes, from the logistics transportation industry using small drones to urban air mobility (UAM), vitalization of the cargo-passenger transportation industry, and reinforcement of the defense system. It is expected to have a great impact on changes in battery, self-driving, and transportation services in the future.

Since 2010, Korean Air has jointly participated in the development project of Korea’s first low-pitched unmanned aerial vehicle supervised by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and succeeded in test flights. Low visibility refers to a kind of stealth technology that is difficult to detect with general radar because the radar cross section (RCS) is very small. In addition, Korean Air is stepping up as a representative tactical and mid-level UAV system comprehensive company by carrying out a project to develop a high heat-resistant / high-strength ceramic-based stealth composite structure from the Korea Research Institute for defense Technology planning and advancement (KRIT).

KIMS has various original technologies in the field of aircraft material/part technology and has experience in developing various material/part technologies capable of absorbing radio waves through participation in the government’s stealth composite core technology project. And Korean Air has radio wave absorbing structure design technology and aircraft shape design and manufacturing technology. Therefore two organizations are planning to cooperate with each other’s technologies and experiences to achieve advanced low-detection performance with domestic technology in a short period.

Jung-hwan Lee, the President of KIMS, said, “To respond to the growth and utilization of the UAV industry in the future, it will be necessary to nurture related materials and parts companies, establish support system infrastructure, and support companies and form networks for technology commercialization.” He continued, “By signing a business agreement with aviation, we will do our best to play a leading role in the development of aircraft materials and parts technology as a comprehensive material research institute representing Korea.