Fueled by FA-50 Success
South Korea’s aircraft exports exceeded US$1 billion for the first time in history last year. The successful export of FA-50 fighter jets to Poland is considered to have contributed significantly to this achievement.
According to the Korea International Trade Association on Feb. 10, South Korea’s aircraft exports amounted to US$1.01 billion last year, representing a 320.5 percent increase from 2022. This achievement marks a new milestone, especially with the production of the first domestically manufactured aircraft, “Buhwalho,” in 70 years. Buhwalho, the first domestically produced light aircraft, was assembled in 1953 by maintenance instructors at the current Republic of Korea Air Force 1st Logistics School. They used engines and propellers from American liaison aircraft.
The increase in exports is largely attributed to Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) delivering 12 FA-50GFs to Poland. Although KAI did not disclose the export amount for the 12 FA-50s delivered to Poland last year, market estimates suggest it to be around US$500 million. According to trade statistics, South Korea’s aircraft exports to Poland last year were recorded at US$520 million.
Expanding the scope to include aircraft parts, the contribution of the South Korean aviation industry to exports is steadily increasing. Last year, aircraft parts exports reached US$2.44 billion, marking a 34.1 percent increase from the previous year and setting a record high, similar to aircraft exports.
The scale of aircraft parts exports surpassed the US$1 billion mark for the first time in 2010, reaching US$1.5 billion. Since then, it has consistently risen. Companies such as KAI, Hanwha Aerospace, LIG Nex1, and Korean Air produce a wide range of aircraft parts, including fuselage, wing structures, engine components, landing gear, specialty materials, and precision control devices, and supply them to major global aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus.
As aircraft parts exports continue to grow steadily and there is also an increasing trend in defense exports, including high-unit price and high-value-added items such as fighter jets and helicopters, observations suggest that the growth of the South Korean aerospace industry will continue steadily. Exporting a single complete fighter jet is comparable in scale to exporting 1,000 cars.
Recently, there has been an increase in exports to the Middle East region as well. The Ministry of National Defense revealed on the 6th of this month that South Korea’s LIG Nex1 signed a contract with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense for the sale of ten Cheongung-II missile defense systems worth US$3.2 billion in November last year. This is the first instance of disclosing a large-scale defense export achievement within the Middle East region.