Korean Air and Anduril to Jointly Develop Large-Scale Wildfire Response Platform

Korean Air and the U.S. defense company Anduril Industries announced on October 1 that they are pursuing joint development of an integrated solution for large-scale wildfire prevention worldwide.

This initiative expands the scope of the cooperation agreement (TA) the two companies signed in August for the unmanned aerial vehicle sector in Korea and the Asia-Pacific region, extending it to areas that can benefit local communities. The goal is to address the problem of large-scale wildfires in countries around the world, including the western United States.

Korean Air

The two companies plan to build an integrated solution by applying Korean Air’s unmanned aerial vehicles and operational technology to Anduril’s wildfire response platform, enabling rapid identification and suppression of wildfire ignition points. Sensors distributed across various domains-including air, ground, and space (satellites)-will detect data and automatically issue alerts to relevant authorities when a fire occurs. Anduril’s wildfire response platform will then use artificial intelligence (AI) to assess the scale and status of the fire and, if necessary, deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to extinguish the flames.

While it can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours for humans to detect signs of wildfires and initiate an initial response, the AI-based solution can monitor and identify wildfires 24/7 and enables rapid initial suppression using unmanned aerial vehicles, which is expected to help prevent the spread of fires.

Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril, stated, "Large-scale wildfires have become a global crisis, but firefighting response systems have lagged behind the times. Integrating Korean Air’s unmanned aerial vehicles into Anduril’s wildfire response platform will dramatically accelerate wildfire response and ultimately save countless lives and reduce large-scale property damage."

A Korean Air representative said, "We have continuously explored ways to contribute to the global community by leveraging our unmanned aerial vehicle development technology and operational capabilities. Through cooperation with Anduril, we believe we can help prevent large-scale wildfires, which have caused serious problems worldwide."