Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

On May 24, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) held a seminar on the ‘advancement of civilian-military cooperation’ at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) located in Daejeon, with the goal of finding ways to manage munitions in association with technologies shaping the fourth industrial revolution.

The seminar was attended by some defense agencies, including the MND, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, each armed service (army, navy, and air force), the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), and the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (DTaQ), as well as some private companies and agencies, including KISTI, Hanwha Co., LIGN Nex1 Co., Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, and Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.

At the seminar, the MND and each armed service presented the munitions policy and its future direction, and the ADD and DTaQ unveiled a plan to manage conditions-based monitoring technology and the reliability of guided missiles. Hanwha Co. and LIGN Nex1 Co. presented a direction for advancing munitions management with state-of-the-art technologies, in line with a core defense technology task which is the ‘plan for munition storage and the collection and use of environmental data,’ and a future defense technology task which is the ‘plan for the use of conditions-based maintenance (CBM+) of guided missiles.’

Significantly, the participants also discussed civilian-military cooperative projects to develop a smart munitions troops system, including △ the improvement of munitions storage and efficiency, △ the development of a standard guided munitions information system for export, and △ the development of a Korean two-way analysis model based on digital twin.

“The revolution in military logistics based on data and AI is a key development in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. I hope this seminar will provide momentum for us to seek ways to create smart munitions troops based on civilian state-of-the-art technologies,” KISTI Convergence Service Center’s director Lee Suk-hyeong said.

“This seminar needs to play a role in maximizing defense technology in association with the fourth industrial revolution, while boosting civilian-military cooperation,” the MND’s Director General for Logistics Management Lee Bok-kyun stressed.