The defense industry is establishing itself as a new growth engine for South Korea. The expected order backlog for this year for the defense 'big four' companies—Hanwha Aerospace, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), LIG Nex1, and Hyundai Rotem—is projected to exceed 100 trillion won. To continue the prosperity of 'K-defense,' it has been advised to open the defense research and development (R&D) ecosystem to the private sector and for the civil, public, and military sectors to collaborate on technological innovation.
Kim Rae-hyun, director of the Future Defense National Technology Strategy Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), noted in an interview on 16th of last month at KIST's main facility in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, that "maintaining exports to military powers such as the United States and Europe is limited by the reliance solely on cost-effective conventional weapons," adding that "to truly enter the ranks of the world's four major defense powers, we must surpass the export barriers of advanced defense countries in the U.S. and Europe through the development of innovative advanced weapons." He suggested that outstanding private sector R&D capabilities should be integrated into the defense field.
The defense sector budget in the national R&D budget amounts to 5 trillion won. The Future Defense National Technology Strategy Center under the KIST Safety Technology Business Division serves as a think tank for defense R&D. It assists the Ministry of Science and ICT in budgeting for R&D and establishes investment strategies for defense R&D, aiming to identify promising private sector technologies and promote the development of defense R&D projects. There are seven researchers, including Director Kim, most of whom are from the Korea Defense Research Institute, the Defense Technology Promotion Agency, and the Ministry of National Defense.
Director Kim believed that, given the limited defense R&D budget, securing innovative advanced weapons would not be easy with government investment alone. He pointed out that technologies that have emerged as game changers in modern warfare, such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and quantum technology, have mostly been advanced by the private sector.
Director Kim stated, "An open innovation structure is needed to allow corporations, research institutes, and startups with technological capabilities to enter the defense R&D ecosystem," adding that "while participation from academia and research in the defense sector is increasing, large defense corporations still dominate, hindering the activation of private sector technology applications in defense and technological innovation."
He explained, "It takes an average of 7 to 8 years for technologies developed by small and medium-sized enterprises to be applied to actual weapons systems, and more than 70% drop out during this process," noting that "to improve this, it is necessary to expand support for private-led consortiums and provide technology validation test beds when investing in defense R&D."
A representative project that combines the efforts of the civil, public, and military sectors for efficient defense R&D is the Future Defense Bridge Technology Development Project. This project, involving the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, with each sharing 22.7 billion won, aims to link the R&D outcomes of the private sector to actual weapons systems development. The National Research Foundation of Korea oversees the project, while KIST's Future Defense National Technology Strategy Center contributes to project planning, and the Defense Rapid Acquisition Technology Research Institute supports project management.
Director Kim emphasized that improving regulations to encourage private participation in defense R&D is also important. He cited issues related to intellectual property rights. In national R&D projects, the researcher in charge has rights to the research results, but in defense R&D projects, the state, not the researcher, holds those rights, which deters excellent researchers from participating in defense R&D projects.
He pointed out, "From the perspective of outstanding private researchers, the lack of guaranteed intellectual property rights reduces the incentive to participate in defense R&D projects," adding that "the issue of needing permission from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration for technology transfers also exists." He stated that such systems should be improved to increase participation from private researchers in defense R&D projects.
Director Kim said that the war between Russia and Ukraine illustrates the changing dynamics of modern warfare well. He stated that our defense sector should actively adopt advanced technologies in line with these changes. Director Kim noted, "To prepare for future wars, we need reconnaissance and surveillance through satellites, AI-based target identification, command and control support, a combined combat system of manned and unmanned assets, and constant network consolidation," emphasizing that unlike Ukraine, where the terrain is over 60% mountainous, South Korea has many limitations in ground communication networks, highlighting the urgent need for R&D investment in aerial and space communication networks.