Hanwha Aerospace (012450.KS) is stepping up cooperation with the Republic of Korea Army to export its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business overseas.
Hanwha Aerospace said it participated in a defense industry communication meeting on civil-military MRO cooperation hosted by the Army Headquarters Logistics Staff on Wednesday at the Nine Tree Premier Rocaus Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
This was the first Army-led meeting on civil-military MRO cooperation. Representatives from major defense companies attended, including Hanwha Systems (272210.KS), Hyundai Rotem (064350.KS), Hyundai WIA (011210.KS), LIG D&A (a unit of LIG Nex1 (079550.KS)) and Korea Aerospace Industries (047810.KS).
At the meeting, the Army outlined its policy direction for MRO in response to a changing maintenance environment. The need for civil-military MRO cooperation is growing as Korea's future troop strength shrinks from approximately 400,000 in 2025 to 300,000 by 2040, while weapons systems are rapidly becoming more advanced and complex.
The Army is launching full-scale support for exporting the Korean MRO model. The plan is to apply the tentatively named "K-PBL (Korean Performance-Based Logistics)," a cooperative MRO framework between the Army and private companies built to safeguard national security, to overseas markets including Poland and the Middle East.
In addition, the Army will establish a new field maintenance support center in the eastern region, supplementing the existing center in the western region. The Army and companies agreed to hold the meeting on a regular basis to deepen cooperation.
"As defense exports increase, requests from foreign countries for operations and maintenance support are also rising," a Hanwha Aerospace official said. "We will work to meet overseas demand and expand MRO exports through cooperation with the Army."