Korea unveils first homegrown aircraft engine prototypes in push to shed reliance on imports

Korea unveiled prototypes for its first homegrown aircraft engines on Tuesday as the country takes the first step toward one day powering its own fighter jets.

The engines, designed for combat and reconnaissance drones, mark a push to end Korea's reliance on imported aircraft engines, a technology so tightly held that only five countries have mastered it.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) showed off a 5,500-pound-class turbofan and a 1,400-horsepower turboprop, both built for uncrewed aircraft, at Hanwha Aerospace's plant in Changwon, South Gyeongsang.

It was the first time Korea had completed a prototype engine built to run for thousands of hours rather than the brief bursts demanded of missile engines. Both prototypes are already undergoing ground tests. DAPA expects to finish development in the early 2030s and begin mass production as early as 2035.

The turbofan is meant for a stealthy combat drone, the Low Observable Unmanned Wingman System (Lowus), and the turboprop for a Medium-Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV).

A mid-to-large drone, the Lowus is designed to fly in formation with Korea's KF-21 fighter and to carry out surveillance, electronic jamming and precision strikes on its own. The MUAV can capture high-resolution images of targets 100 kilometers (62 miles) away from altitudes of 6 to 13 kilometers. Built mainly for reconnaissance, it can also be armed with the domestically developed Cheongeom antitank missile to serve as an attack aircraft.

Both aircraft were on display at last year's Armed Forces Day ceremony.

President Lee Jae Myung used the occasion to promise heavier investment in defense technology.

"We will sharply expand investment in strategic defense technologies such as advanced aircraft engines and stealth, and reshape our military into a capable, specialized and smart elite force," Lee said in his speech at the ceremony.

The first Lowus prototype was rolled out in May 2025, and the MUAV is due to reach the Air Force in stages beginning early next year.

Aircraft engines are notoriously difficult to build. Because an engine must keep running throughout a flight, it demands sophisticated cooling, and transfers and exports are restricted under multinational regimes such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations.

Those controls are meant to prevent the misuse of dual-use technology, but in practice they also keep newer arms exporters out of the engine market. Japan and India, among others, have launched their own engine programs.

The government began developing the turbofan in 2019 and the turboprop in 2021. DAPA says Korean engineers developed the heat-resistant materials and parts needed to endure prolonged heat and pressure, and secured on their own the thermal-barrier coating technology that maximizes an engine's efficiency.

For now, the engines are built for drones, but officials frame the work as a foundation.

"We have developed aircraft engines for unmanned aircraft, but this sets the stage to move on to engines for manned aircraft," a DAPA official said.

The agency also plans to develop a domestic engine for a next-generation manned fighter. The KF-21, due to be handed to the military in the second half of this year, was built with Korean technology but runs on a U.S.-made engine. DAPA aims to finish its own engine by 2041 and fit it to a future KF-21 variant.

"We have drawn up an advanced aircraft engine development plan with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and the Korea Aerospace Administration," the official said, "and plan to launch the main project in 2028, starting with some core technologies this year."

BY SHIM SEOK-YONG [[email protected]]