Korean Air and Anduril to Produce Advanced Military Drones
- Korean Air and US defense technology startup Anduril Industries have signed a partnership to jointly produce autonomous aircraft in Korea.
This agreement, signed on August 7, 2025, follows a pre-existent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed between the two companies in April 2025.
This deal has an important industrial dimension. The Korean group will license-produce Anduril solutions in the field of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and will also co-develop some systems, potentially including some developed specifically for the needs of the Republic of Korea and the larger Asia-Pacific region.
Besides being Korea’s main commercial airline, Korean Air has also a significant activity in the field of unmanned aircraft systems. Korean Air has developed a number of drone systems for defense applications in collaboration with the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) of Korea.
These include the KUS-FS, a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) which entered service in 2024, and the still-under-development LOWUS, a “loyal wingman” stealth drone which will complement the future Korean-developed KF-21 fighter.
In the press statement announcing the partnership, Jin Kyu Lim, SVP and Head of Korean Air’s Aerospace Business, highlighted the promising opportunities that will result from combining Korean Air’s expertise in UAS development with Anduril’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI)-driven command and control systems.
"This partnership combines Korean Air's proven expertise in unmanned aircraft systems with Anduril's cutting-edge AI (artificial intelligence),"
he said.
Top Photo: Executives of South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air, led by its Aerospace Business head Jin Kyu Lim (8th from left), and the US defense technology firm Anduril Industries, led by its founder Palmer Luckey (7th from left), pose for a photo during Anduril's office launch in Seoul on Aug. 7, 2025.
Source: Aerotime
