"We will not rest on our laurels here. We will swiftly begin developing advanced aircraft engines, materials and components, sparing no investment or support so that our defense industry can continue to grow."
At the March 25 rollout ceremony for the first mass-production unit of South Korea's supersonic fighter jet, the KF-21 "Boramae," held in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, President Lee Jae-myung celebrated the successful development and mass production of the KF-21 and expressed this determination to develop next-generation aircraft engines.
The government has already designated advanced aircraft engines as a new growth engine for the K-defense industry. Policy materials unveiled at the National Planning Committee's public briefing last year included advanced aircraft engine development—alongside artificial intelligence (AI) drones and defense space—as core tasks for elevating the K-defense industry into one of the world's top four.
The reason the government is focusing on aircraft engines is clear. The K-defense industry has already proven its global competitiveness in ground weapons, naval vessels and self-propelled artillery, but securing aircraft engine capabilities—a core technology for fighter jets and unmanned aircraft—is essential for sustainable growth.
South Korea has succeeded in developing its own fighter jet platform, the KF-21. But the engine, the heart of a fighter jet, still relies on foreign technology. The KF-21 currently uses the F414-GE-400K engine from U.S.-based General Electric (GE), which Hanwha Aerospace produces domestically under a technology licensing arrangement.
The bigger problem is export controls. The engine is subject to the U.S. State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Exporting the KF-21 to a third country requires export approval from the U.S. government. Even with a domestically developed fighter platform, as long as the core component—the engine—is bound by foreign technology, it is structurally difficult to secure full export autonomy.
Advanced aircraft engines are a representative strategic technology held by only a handful of countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Russia. They require a complex combination of design, materials, testing, evaluation and certification capabilities, and technology transfer is strictly limited under international control regimes. That is why they require massive investment and lengthy development periods.
Even so, the reason South Korea must take on the challenge of localizing aircraft engines is clear. The market size is overwhelming. According to U.S. business magazine Fortune, the global advanced aircraft engine market is projected to reach $170 billion (about 266 trillion won) by 2026. Global Market Insights forecasts that at an average annual growth rate of 8.4%, the market will expand to $300 billion (about 468 trillion won) by 2040.
Accordingly, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) plans to independently develop a 16,000-lbf-class advanced aircraft engine—equivalent to the KF-21's engine—by 2040, with the goal of entering the global market. The total project cost is set at about 5.5 trillion won, with a development period of about 14 years.
The government does not intend to stop there, planning to also develop aircraft engines for sixth-generation fighters needed for AI-based manned-unmanned teaming systems. If advanced aircraft engine development is completed by 2040 as planned, next-generation fighters equipped with engines made with Korean technology will fly the world's skies.
Park Geun-young, head of DAPA's Advanced Technology Project Group, said, "Advanced aircraft engines are a core strategic technology, so much so that they are called the 'semiconductors of the defense industry,'" adding, "Aircraft engine independence carries the significance of completing the K-defense industry's full self-reliant national defense system."
He continued, "Core aircraft engine technology can be expanded into various fields, including civil aircraft engines, naval gas turbines and small power-generation gas turbines," emphasizing, "It will bring considerable ripple effects across the national economy, beyond the defense industry."
What is core power?
It refers to the independent and irreplaceable capabilities a country has secured in each domain, including technology, security, diplomacy, administration and culture.
