The Company Says Indigenous Long-Range Air-To-Air Missile Could Equip KF-21
Models of Korea’s “long-range air-to-air missile,” “ballistic correction fuze,” and “precision-guided artillery shell” displayed at “Hanwha Aerospace Tech Academy 2026,” held on April 29 at the Hanwha Building in Jung-gu. (Photo courtesy of Hanwha Aerospace)
Hanwha Aerospace is pouring all of its resources into developing a Korean equivalent of the Meteor missile. The ducted ramjet technology it has accumulated over more than 20 years is now approaching commercialization, with a flight test scheduled for this year. The company aims to simultaneously achieve autonomous air armament capability and enhance its export competitiveness through the domestic development of a long-range air-to-air missile to be equipped on the homegrown fighter jet KF-21.
Baek Gi-bong, head of Hanwha Aerospace’s PGM Business Division, said at the “Tech Academy 2026” event held on April 29 at the Hanwha Building in Jung-gu, Seoul, “The Republic of Korea is preparing to develop a ‘long-range air-to-air guided weapon’ for purely indigenous air armament on its domestically developed fighter jet ‘KF-21,’” adding, “We are working to develop the technology for a ‘ducted ramjet propulsion system,’ a solid propulsion system designed to maximize efficiency.”
A long-range air-to-air guided weapon is a missile launched from a fighter aircraft that detects, tracks, and intercepts enemy aircraft at distances exceeding 100 kilometers. Currently, the foremost long-range air-to-air missile in the world is the Meteor, developed by European defense company MBDA. The Meteor is known to fly at a top speed of Mach 4 and is capable of intercepting fighter jets as far as 200 kilometers away.
The reason the Meteor is regarded as the highest-performing missile in its class is its use of a ducted ramjet propulsion system. A ducted ramjet propulsion system is a missile propulsion mechanism that burns solid fuel using air drawn in during flight to generate thrust. Because there is no need to carry a separate oxidizer, fuel capacity can be increased. It significantly improves range and propulsion efficiency and is considered a core technology in air armament.
There has not yet been a single case in South Korea where a ducted ramjet propulsion system for a long-range air-to-air guided weapon has been operationally deployed. Over the past 20 years, Hanwha Aerospace has been conducting key research under the supervision of the Agency for Defense Development, securing essential technologies including a gas generator, the production and localization of key propellant raw materials, and a nozzle-less booster.
Jo Jeong-tae, team leader of the Propulsion and Ammunition Team 1 at the PGM Research Institute, explained: “Hanwha Aerospace is the only company in South Korea that manufactures the oxidizer, which is the key raw material for solid propellants,” and noted, “The ignition device and the powder firing device for port opening must guarantee 99.9% reliability, and we are the only company in the country capable of producing them.”
This is because air armament must withstand environmental conditions on an entirely different scale from anything encountered before. One challenge is enduring extremely low temperatures of minus 55 degrees Celsius or below at high altitudes, while another is the extremely high temperatures exceeding several hundred degrees Celsius that arise during hypersonic flight. Electromagnetic characteristics such as radio frequency interference must also be taken into account.
Jo Bok-gi, senior researcher on System Integration Team 1 at the PGM Research Institute, emphasized: “In air armament, all of this is a new challenge,” and stated, “Through the multi-purpose air-launched supersonic cruise missile core technology program, the Agency for Defense Development is developing South Korea’s first air armament to incorporate Hanwha Aerospace’s ducted ramjet, with a flight test planned for this year.”
Hanwha Aerospace’s ultimate goal is the domestic development of the long-range air-to-air missile, which represents the pinnacle of air armament technology. To that end, Hanwha Aerospace is working alongside Hanwha Systems across nine areas: guided weapon system integration, fuze, warhead, Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) seeker, radar controller, integrated electronics unit, ducted ramjet propulsion system, inertial navigation system, and actuator. Beyond developing the long-range air-to-air missile, the company also plans to accelerate the development of scramjet propulsion technology capable of operating in the hypersonic regime.
A Hanwha Aerospace representative said, “The domestic development of air armament is a core strategic priority that can simultaneously strengthen our self-reliant defense capability and our competitiveness in defense exports,” and added, “If we can offer domestically developed air armament packaged together with domestic fighter jets such as the KF-21, we can further strengthen our export competitiveness in the global fighter aircraft market.”
Jung Suk-yee
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