Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea seeks a paradigm shift in the defense industry: from ‘Fast Follower’ to ‘First Mover’

Presiding over a meeting on boosting national defense industries, Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo stressed the need for a paradigm shift in the defense industry to prepare for the ‘Post-Corona Era’
 
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy pledges to fully support local production of key components of weapons systems;
Participants discuss issues related to the Act on Boosting the Defense Industry, which is to be enforced next year

Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo stressed the need for a paradigm shift in Korea's defense industries to prepare for the ‘Post-Corona Era’ at a meeting with officials from government departments and organizations related to the defense industry, including Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo.

During the ‘6th meeting on boosting the national defense industry’ presided over by Ministers Jeong and Sung, which was held at the Ministry’s main conference room on July 8, Jeong stressed the need for Korea to shift to a First Mover to take the initiative in leading the world’s defense industry. "Our defense industries should shift away from being "Fast Follower" industries," he added, noting that the government is pursuing ‘First Mover in economy’ to prepare for the Post-Corona era.

After defining the defense industry as "one of the future growth engines of our economy that propels the development of advanced technologies and new exports, as well as a national key industry to build sturdy security,” Jeong described the efforts being made by the Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration for the development of the defense industry. “We are also pushing ahead with 'promotion of the defense industry in a way that fits the 4th industrial revolution era' as one of national political agendas, in addition to ‘4th Industrial Revolution Smart Defense Innovation,’ as part of the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative,” he added, stressing that the ministries are actively working to realize the goal of ‘digital strong forces, smart defense’ through a dronebot combat system for the Army and smart warships for the Navy by integrating various civilian-military cooperation agendas, including the launch of an intelligent smart air wing and the utilization of 3D printing, with advanced technologies from the private sector.

Minister Sung also stressed “the need to look at the defense industry as a national industry to prepare for the 4th industrial revolution era,” adding “The Ministry of Industry will fully support local production of key defense industry components.”

The purpose of Wednesday’s meeting was to seek and promote various policies, including ways to support pan-government defense exports, the local production of key components of weapons systems, and national defense technology transfer to the private sector and private technology transfer to the defense sector, to strengthen the competitiveness and lifespan of the defense industry.

“This was the second such meeting after the ‘meeting on promoting national defense industries’ held in September 2018, since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration. Government departments and organizations related to the defense industry, including the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MTIE), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), have been gathering together,” an official from the MND explained.

Participants discussed ways to boost the defense industry and to provide support for defense exports ahead of the Act on Boosting and Supporting Defense Industries (Act on Boosting Defense Industries), which is to be enforced in February next year. The meeting presented four agenda items, including: △ ways to boost the meeting for the development of defense industries, △ ways to boost the operation of a defense goods exchange support center, △ ways to promote the localization of defense components, △ ripple effects of a military helicopter improvement program.

The MND came up with ways to improve the timeliness and efficiency of the meeting by holding it on a regular basis or holding it frequently if necessary, as well as ways to ensure the fulfillment of the initiatives that came out of the meeting. DAPA vowed to subdivide the structure of the key components localization program and to expand support for the component localization program. The ministry also vowed to discover and localize key components in the defense area, which are likely to lead to future exports and enable national defense technology transfer to the private sector, in cooperation with the MTIE. KOTRA’s Korea Defense Industry Trade Support Center vowed to build a professional defense export support system by strengthening cooperation with related departments and reshuffling its organization.

The MTIE announced that it is expecting to see some ripple effects from replacing the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with a Korean-made helicopter in the product improvement program carried out by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET). The MND vowed to map out a medium-to-long term plan to improve the military strength of a mid-sized mobile helicopter by referring to KIET’s final research results and taking military operability, financial and industrial aspects into account.

By Su-Yeol, Maeng <guns13@dema.mil.kr >
 < Copyright ⓒ The Korea Defense Daily, All rights reserved>