CEO Jo Young-bin: "We Must Foster Core Areas of the 4th Industrial Revolution"

Dassault Syst?mes Korea CEO Youngbin Cho

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought significant changes to the defense industry. Weapon systems applying artificial intelligence and unmanned technologies have emerged as game changers that transform the nature of warfare. Cho Young-bin, CEO of Dassault Syst?mes Korea, emphasized the need to focus on nurturing four core areas where Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies can be applied. CEO Cho stated, "Agile development strategies, new business model development, collaboration with supply chains, and cybersecurity are important," adding, "These can be integrated into various fields such as administration, environment, life sciences, and automotive."

The U.S. Department of Defense announced in 2018 that it would introduce Digital Engineering (DE) into weapon system development projects. The introduction of DE means enabling flexibility and highly accurate work predictions from the early stages of weapon design. Our weapon system development involves numerous procedures from the conceptual decision of whether to purchase from overseas or develop domestically to the final product supply to the military. This is why domestic weapon system acquisition projects take decades to complete.

CEO Cho explained why global defense companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Safran, and Sukhoi use Dassault programs. He said, "Using 3D digital design programs can reduce certification-related costs by 25%, development time and costs by up to 60%, while improving productivity by 40%. With this program, we achieved sales of 6.6 trillion won last year alone and have maintained double-digit growth annually."

Regarding Korea’s industrial software, he said, "Supportive environments such as definition support need to be established." He added, "While global companies are rushing to adopt digital design, it is unfortunate that domestic companies stick to 2D drawing methods due to various regulations."

CEO Cho emphasized that using Digital Twin technology can efficiently operate large cities. In 2018, the Singapore government announced ‘Virtual Singapore.’ Virtual Singapore builds a virtual city identical to the real city inside a computer and quantifies social infrastructure and urban information as data. By utilizing this virtual platform, it is possible to foresee harmony with surrounding landscapes, traffic flow, and sunlight rights infringement after constructing new buildings. CEO Cho explained, "When developing new submarines, underwater operational scenarios can be exactly replicated for various tests, and if a specific area is accurately modeled as a 3D city, military operations can be planned in advance according to combat situations."