Noru Paint and Korean Air Join Forces to Develop 'Aircraft Stealth Coating' Technology

Josung-guk, CEO of Noroo Paint (left), and Park Jung-woo, Head of Aerospace Business Division at Korean Air, are signing a business agreement.

Noru Paint announced on the 20th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a strategic partnership with Korean Air at the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX 2023).

The event was attended by key figures including Cho Sung-guk, President of Noru Paint, and Park Jung-woo, Head of Korean Air's Aerospace Business Division.

Based on the agreement, both companies will promote joint research to develop applied material technologies, including aircraft stealth coatings. They also plan to actively cooperate by establishing a business collaboration system to share research and technology for commercialization.

This collaboration on stealth coating technology development is part of the national project titled "Meta-structure Stealth Fusion Technology for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Responding to the Latest Detection Threats," with a total project cost of 44.1 billion KRW, for which Korean Air was selected as the preferred bidder. Multiple companies are participating in the project, and Noru Paint will begin work on the stealth coating technology called "Development of Discontinuous Region Scattering Reduction Materials."

Stealth coating technology, which absorbs radio waves to protect friendly material and human resources from radar detection, is widely used in defense sectors such as unmanned aerial vehicles, naval vessels, and tanks.

For over 20 years, Noru Paint has collaborated with the Agency for Defense Development to develop coatings that meet radio wave absorption functions. By mutually cooperating with Korean Air’s radio wave absorption structure design technology and experience in aircraft shape design and manufacturing, it is expected that the low-observable performance will be advanced as a domestic independent technology within a short period.

Korean Air’s accumulated expertise in aircraft design and manufacturing, system integration technology, and various low-observable specialized technologies are reported to have already reached a level applicable to future stealth unmanned aerial vehicle system development projects.

Song Jun-seo, Director of Noru Paint Research Institute, said, "We expect this technology development agreement to bring us one step closer to domestic production of stealth coatings," adding, "We will strive to achieve successful results to contribute to the advancement of the national defense industry."