Hanwha Aero Launches Development of Electric Actuators for Future Personal Air Vehicles

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Hanwha Aerospace announced on the 14th that it will develop an electric actuator (EMA), a core drive device for future personal air vehicles (PAV) to be used as new concept air transportation means such as drone taxis. Hanwha Aerospace, which recently won the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's project for 'Development of High-Reliability Electric Actuators for Next-Generation Transportation Vehicles,' plans to invest 18.4 billion KRW over four years to complete the development by 2024.

An electric actuator (EMA) is a drive device that controls mechanical linear and rotational movements through the rotational power of a motor using electrical energy. It mainly operates flight control devices or landing gear that control the direction and attitude of an aircraft. For this project, Hanwha Aerospace formed an industry-academia-research consortium with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Korea Aerospace University, and domestic small and medium-sized enterprises.

Hanwha Aerospace expects that if it succeeds in developing a high-reliability electric actuator for PAVs as the first domestic company, it will be able to enter not only the domestic but also the global market and even the civil aircraft market. Additionally, the company has the necessary infrastructure for development and mass production at its Asan plant and anticipates positive effects such as win-win cooperation with domestic parts suppliers utilizing the currently established supply chain.

A Hanwha Aerospace official said, "Following the trend of eco-friendliness and high efficiency, the application of electric actuators is expanding instead of hydraulic actuators used in existing aircraft," adding, "The global electric actuator market is expected to grow from about 3 trillion KRW in 2025 to about 11 trillion KRW by 2035."

Hanwha Aerospace plans to expand electric drive devices for various platforms of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and grow into a global specialized company for core drive systems for PAVs. Hanwha Aerospace is the only domestic gas turbine engine manufacturer that has cumulatively produced over 9,000 engines by this year and strengthened its aerospace business by acquiring the aircraft machinery business from Hanwha Corporation in 2019.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.