Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

President Yoon's Defense Export Strategy Meeting

Ministry of National Defense presents four key initiatives

120 billion won for 100 innovative companies

Post-sales management to ensure reliability

Securing eight major game changers such as AI

The Ministry of National Defense aims for 5% of the global defense export market share by 2027, leading to Korea's emergence as the world's fourth largest defense exporter. The ministry will also focus on strengthening research and technology and promoting national economic prosperity.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, the Ministry of National Defense proposed a virtuous cycle structure for “advanced military power construction and defense export expansion.” On the 24th, President Yoon Suk Yeol presided over the 2022 defense export strategy meeting at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do. The ministry also presented a blueprint for transforming the defense industry into an export-oriented industry, and listed four key tasks for achieving this goal. Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Lee Chang-yang, Vice Minister of National Defense Shin Beom-cheol, Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) Eom Dong-hwan, and military leaders including chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, commanders of the Marine Corps, and representatives of 60 defense industry companies attended the meeting.

At the meeting, the Ministry of National Defense introduced its strategy to expand the government-level export support system in order to stimulate an increase in defense exports. The objective is to raise a total of 120 billion won in defense technology innovation funds to assist the “project for 100 defense industry innovation businesses” and the “defense venture business incubation program” that supports venture companies and small and medium-sized enterprises in the defense industry in their early phases. The former will provide consulting, funding, and R&D to promising small and medium-sized enterprises in the new defense industry, while the latter will assist small, medium-sized, and venture companies with excellent technology in entering the defense industry.

The Ministry of National Defense will take the lead in post-sales, by taking responsibility for post-sales management, to guarantee that buyers are happy with the quality of Korean weapons systems. The Ministry of National Defense further stated that it would provide follow-up services to countries that have purchased Korean defense equipment and weapons to ensure customer satisfaction, with services ranging from the sharing of know-how on weapons operations through joint training to the technological education and to the trial run of equipment.

Moreover, the Ministry intends to secure essential future “game-changer” technologies in the AI, hypersonics, synthetic biology, high energy, future communication and cyber, space, Unmanned/autonomous system, and quantum physics fields. The present weapons systems will maintain worldwide competitiveness by enhancing their performance, while the benefits of Korean weapons systems, which have outstanding performance and high utilization, will be expanded and utilized in the creation of new weapons systems.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy outlined five important objectives to “strategically industrialize defense industry exports.”

According to the report, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy will push for the development of technologies in 40 key materials and components, including carbon composite materials, to strengthen the competitiveness of the defense industry ecosystem. It will also invest 50 billion won per year in machinery, aviation, materials, parts, and equipment to foster manpower, which is the core of the ecosystem, to facilitate job creation for approximately 3,300 workers. It will also promote international technological collaboration by bringing high-tech foreign enterprises with R&D centers to Korea.

The Ministry plans to invest more than 1 trillion won in civil-military technological cooperation by 2027 in order to foster innovative R&D, such as transferring defense technology to the private sector, integrating civil innovative technologies in the defense industry, and developing dual-use technologies.

The meeting was convened under President Yoon's strong desire to foster the defense industry as a high-tech strategic industry that will drive national security and the economy. It was also intended to discuss ways to move toward becoming the world's fourth largest defense export nation in which the private, government, and military sectors collaborate.

By Hyun-woo, Seo <lgiant61@dema.mi.kr>

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