After 10,000th aero engine, Hanwha Aerospace dreams higher

With the milestone achieved, Korea's leading aerospace company has set its eyes on the new goal of total internal engine development.

Hanwha Aerospace's F404 aircraft engine is being tested at its facility in Changwon, South Gyeongsang. [HANWHA AEROSPACE]

CHANGWON, South Gyeongsang — With a thunderous sonic boom, the expanding engine nozzle of the F404 aero engine exuded blue flames as Hanwha Aerospace personnel pushed the lever to test the engine's functionality before shipping it to the client.

This particular F404 engine is the 10,000th engine ever manufactured by Hanwha Aerospace, and is slated for the TA-50 trainer jets of the Korean Air Force.

The engine manufacturer gave a media tour of its production facilities in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Friday, ahead of a celebratory event for the milestone engine's delivery on Monday.

Hanwha Aerospace is the only Korean company capable of manufacturing engines for aircraft, and the Changwon factory, its first engine plant, has played an integral role.

The plant has been making aero engines since 1978, starting with the J79 for the F4 fighter jet and evolving to the F414 engine for the KF-21 Boramae, Korea's first domestically developed fighter jet.

Lee Kwang-min, executive vice president at Hanwha Aerospace, talks to the press at its Changwon, South Gyeongsang facility on Friday. [HANWHA AEROSPACE]

While the production milestone means much to Hanwha Aerospace, the company aims much further still.

Of the 10,000 engines made, only 1,800 have been developed with Hanwha's own technology, while the remaining, including the F404, have been made under license agreements with companies like General Electric (GE).

Within the F404 alone, only 36 percent of the components are made domestically.

Hanwha Aerospace is determined to relieve the reliance.

The company said Friday it plans to develop its own proprietary technology for sixth-generation fighter jets, such as the E2SG (embedded electric starter generator) and ceramic matrix composite materials. In partnership with the Korean government, it also plans to develop its own 15,000-pound engine that is able to power the KF-21 by the mid-2030s at the earliest.

"The engine to an aircraft is like the heart to the human body. It plays a core role in rolling out military operations. Only six countries and seven companies are able to make them on their own," said Lee Kwang-min, an executive vice president at Hanwha Aerospace who heads its aero systems business on Friday, in reference to the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Ukraine and China.

Hanwha Aerospace employees inpsect an aircraft engine. [HANWHA AEROSPACE]

"Developing an advanced aircraft engine, including those for sixth-generation fighter jets, is a challenging target, but we will achieve it on the back of 45 years of experience."

Lee added that the addition of unmanned drones to future sixth-generation military aircraft will render the importing of engines much more complex and time-consuming due to security reasons.

Hanwha Aerospace aims to expand its R&D workforce committed to aircraft engines to 800 by 2028 from the current 200, according to Lee.

"We aim to make 70 to 80 percent of our next 10,000 engine units with our own technology," Lee said.

Hanwha Aerospace on Monday broke ground for its engine production facilities dedicated to manufacturing F414 engines for KF-21 fighter jets under a license agreement with GE. It plans to invest 40 billion won ($29 million) through 2025 to set up the 16,000-square-meter (172,000-square-foot) plant equipped with smart quality control and logistics systems.

Hanwha Aerospace is amping up efforts to strengthen its aero and space businesses with Hanwha's heir apparent, Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan, at the helm. The company recently shed machinery and AI solutions businesses to restructure its business portfolio with a focus on the aero and space sectors.

The vice chairman joined Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn on a visit to Hanwha Aerospace's R&D center in Daejeon last month.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]