Gumi City Establishes Manned-Unmanned Complex System ... Leading K-Defense Industry

DAPA↔Gyeongbuk Province↔Gumi City, Defense Industry Innovation Cluster Project MOU

Signed Agreement with Dedicated Agency Defense Technology Promotion Institute, Preparing for Project Implementation

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (Administrator Eom Dong-hwan), Gyeongbuk Province, and Gumi City held a business agreement on the 2nd at the city hall situation room to successfully promote the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project. The agreement was signed with the attendance of An Ju-chan, chairman of the Gumi City Council, city and provincial council members, and heads of related local industry, academia, research, and government institutions.

Plan to Establish Defense Industry Innovation Cluster in Gyeongbuk and Gumi.

On the same day, Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City also signed an agreement with the dedicated institution, the Defense Technology Promotion Institute (Director Son Jae-hong), completing preparations for the full-scale promotion of the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project.

According to the agreement, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Gyeongbuk Province, and Gumi City will closely cooperate in areas including ▲formation of the cluster project group and regional council ▲establishment of a specialized roadmap for manned-unmanned complex systems ▲construction and operation of a defense-specialized development research institute ▲infrastructure support such as defense-specialized research, testing, and demonstration ▲support for technology development and commercialization of results related to new defense industries ▲support for defense startups and entry of excellent civilian companies into the defense industry.

The manned-unmanned complex system refers to an intermediate stage toward unmanned weapon systems, where human operators and unmanned weapon systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles operate as a team.

The Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project is a five-year initiative investing a total of 49.9 billion KRW (24.5 billion KRW national funds, 25.4 billion KRW local funds) to create an innovative defense industry ecosystem centered on manned-unmanned complex systems to foster the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises related to defense.

An Advanced Defense Industry Promotion Center (3 buildings, 4,000㎡) will be established in the Gumi 1 National Industrial Complex by 2024, with plans to introduce environmental/reliability equipment and electromagnetic compatibility equipment.

Furthermore, a roadmap for fostering the defense industry specialized in manned-unmanned complex systems will be established, presenting a growth model for the Gyeongbuk defense industry. A defense-specialized research institute in the form of an open project lab, composed of a consortium of local companies and universities, will operate to develop core technologies for manned-unmanned complex systems.

Until now, small and medium-sized enterprises related to defense have been limited to producing materials and components and supplying them to system companies.

However, through this Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project, Gyeongbuk Province and Gumi City plan to nurture strong small and medium-sized venture companies related to defense that can produce small defense finished products centered on advanced small weapon systems, enabling not only military deployment but also export.

To this end, various supports such as advanced small weapon system technology task development, prototype production, test evaluation support, and productization support through technology transfer will be provided, along with consulting for defense startups and excellent civilian companies entering the defense industry.

Separately from the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project, Gyeongbuk Province plans to promote the ‘Defense Small and Medium Enterprise Productivity Improvement Support Project’ in cooperation with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration from 2024 for three years, investing a total of 3.4 billion KRW in national and provincial funds to strengthen production capacity through equipment and mold advancement, which is highly anticipated by local small and medium enterprises.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho said, “Today’s agreement ceremony will be an important turning point for Gumi to once again play a significant role in the recovery of the Republic of Korea’s economy through the defense industry,” and added, “Since this is a hard-earned achievement, we will spare no support for the successful promotion of the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster project.”