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Hanwha Aerospace stakes a Korean drone supply chain on 43 memorandums
At its Changwon plant Hanwha Aerospace signed cooperation memorandums with 43 domestic suppliers and set a target of more than 70% Korean content on the Mojave STOL it is developing with GA-ASI. No one has ordered the aircraft yet.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Hanwha Aerospace signed memorandums of understanding with 43 domestic drone companies at its Changwon No. 1 plant on the 21st, covering development, production and exports across airframes, parts and materials and mission equipment.
- In the large-aircraft segment the company is co-developing the Mojave STOL with GA-ASI, the U.S. maker of the Predator and Reaper, and plans Korean research and production infrastructure with domestic content above 70% at mass production.
- The Mojave is 9 metres long with a 16-metre wingspan, tops 250 kilometres per hour, stays airborne more than 24 hours and needs 122 to 300 metres of ground, so it can work from unpaved roads.
- On the 16th the aircraft flew a simulated combat demonstration at the 2026 Defense Drone Technology Exhibition in Pocheon, taking off and landing on a narrow tank maneuver road.
- For small and mid-sized military drones, Hanwha said it will offer overseas buyers packages pairing domestic drones with its K9 self-propelled howitzer and Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher.
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Why it matters
- cost Hanwha carries the spend on Korean development and production lines for the Mojave; the 43 suppliers carry the cost of qualifying and tooling for a production rate that waits on a customer order.
- constraint A content floor above 70% caps how much of a mass-produced Mojave can come from GA-ASI's existing U.S. supplier base, so the Korean side has to be able to make the difference.
- capability Small Korean makers get access to buyer relationships they cannot open alone, because their hardware travels inside pitches for systems Hanwha already sells abroad.
Only one commitment in the plan has money attached, and it is the domestic-content floor: at mass production, more than 70% of the Mojave's content is to come from Korea [8], leaving under 30% to be bought abroad [3]. Mass production begins when somebody orders the aircraft. The memorandums signed on the 21st set up cooperation on development, production and exports [3], and the two Seoul Economic Daily accounts do not report terms [17].
The gap this is meant to close is one Hanwha describes itself. Korea's drone industry grew around small and mid-sized firms with strong technology, and those firms have struggled with large-scale investment, building mass-production systems, securing stable order volumes and entering overseas markets, the company said [14]. Hanwha's answer to the volume half of that sits in the second segment of the plan, where domestic small drones reach foreign buyers through the channel that already carries its ground systems [11]. That route can pay suppliers first.
On the large side, half the aircraft is payload. Up to 1,600 kilograms against a maximum takeoff weight of 3,175 kilograms works out at 50.4% [1], which leaves 1,575 kilograms for structure, engine and fuel [2]. Hanwha describes the aircraft as usable for both attack and cargo missions [6].
The company put itself in the company of Rheinmetall and Leonardo, which it said have been securing drone technology and production capacity through joint development, investment and joint ventures with specialist firms [13]. The commitments Hanwha has described are the joint development with GA-ASI [5] and the research and production infrastructure it plans to build at home [8].
"We will build an industry ecosystem that develops and produces unmanned aircraft and drones together with domestic companies, and ensure that the excellent technology and products of domestic firms lead to large-scale production and global exports," a Hanwha Aerospace official said [15].
The Mojave could win a Korean requirement, in which case the content floor turns 43 memorandums into priced supply contracts at known rates. It could also stay a demonstrator, and the memorandums with it. The version I would weight highest is the third: the suppliers get paid first as content inside artillery export packages, while the large-UAV supply base waits on a program of record. A funded Mojave order would move me off that, because it is the single event the 70% target is priced against.
What to watch
- The first funded Mojave order, Korean or export, that would start the mass-production stage where the content target applies.
- Whether any of the 43 memorandums converts into a supply contract with a stated price and volume.
- The first overseas K9 or Chunmoo package that lists Korean small drones as a paid line item.