[비즈한국] The appearance of a Hanwha logo on the 'Mojave,' a large drone manufactured by the U.S. defense company General Atomics (GA) that recently conducted flight demonstrations from the ROKS Dokdo, has drawn significant attention within the industry. It is expected that Hanwha, which has not previously developed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), intends to secure competitiveness in military drones through this collaboration with GA.
On the 12th, a combat takeoff experiment for the prototype of the 'Mojave,' a fixed-wing UAV from GA, was held on the large transport ship ROKS Dokdo in the East Sea near Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. According to the Navy, the experiment was observed by some 200 domestic military officials and researchers, as well as U.S. Army personnel. It was reported that representatives from GA, who were responsible for the assembly and operation of the drone, along with officials from Hanwha Aerospace012450 and Hanwha Systems272210, participated in the event.
The Mojave drone is a medium-to-large UAV developed by the U.S. company GA. It is an improved version of the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, which is currently operated by the U.S. Army, and was introduced in 2021; it features a wingspan of 16m, a length of 9m, and a height of 3m. It is capable of carrying up to 16 anti-tank missiles. This marks the first time the Navy has launched a fixed-wing UAV from a ship like the ROKS Dokdo. However, the clear presence of the Hanwha logo on the tested Mojave airframe drew attention. A Hanwha official explained, "We are reviewing technical cooperation based on the Mojave with GA."
Domestic companies that have been heavily invested in military drones include Korean Air003490 and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)047810. Korean Air is currently developing key technologies required for stealth drones and, in cooperation with the Agency for Defense Development, is developing Korea's first low-observable UAV swarm. KAI also participated in the development and production of the RQ-101 (Songolmae) corps-level UAV currently operated by the Army and is developing the next-generation corps-level UAV (NCUAV), which is the successor model. Furthermore, it is conducting independent pre-development for the NCUAV Block 2.
Hanwha Aerospace is a latecomer to the military drone market. It is known that neither Hanwha Aerospace nor Hanwha Systems possesses the intellectual property (IP) for drone airframes. Consequently, the industry expects that Hanwha will employ a strategy of importing airframes from overseas partners and integrating them with Hanwha's production systems. Kim Min-seok, a researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODEF), predicted, "While Hanwha lacks its own aircraft systems, it wants to enter the drone market dominated by Korean Air and KAI. I expect they will apply the same formula used by Hanwha Systems—which bypassed Korean Air and KAI to win the shipboard drone project by importing airframes from Austria—to the Mojave."
In October, Hanwha Group organized a 'Drone TF' (Task Force) with Hanwha Aerospace at the center, joined by Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Advanced Materials. It is reported that Ryu Young-kwan, a retired Air Force Major General and current Executive Vice President of Hanwha Aerospace, was appointed as the head of the TF to capture the UAV market. EVP Ryu previously served as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence at the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and as the head of the defense business division at Hanwha.
Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan is also known to have a strong interest in cooperation with GA. An industry official hinted, "On July 28, Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan visited the U.S. with high-ranking officials from the TF to continue negotiations with GA. While they faced difficulties due to GA demanding a fairly high technology transfer fee, negotiations are still ongoing."
According to the market research firm Fortune Business Insights, the global military drone market is projected to grow from $14.4 billion (19.4054 trillion won) last year to $35.6 billion (47.9710 trillion won) by 2030.