SEOUL: Following the signing of a defence industry Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit last October, Malaysia and South Korea aim to strengthen collaboration in defence procurement and technology development.
Kim Youngdo, a digital communications officer with South Korea's Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) – the government agency charged with overseeing national defence manufacturing, exports, and R&D – emphasises the importance of prioritising homegrown national defence manufacturing and technology development during a media visit.
He adds that this can take the form of armament development through collaborative research and development in areas lacking capacity with foreign partners.
In a report on the MoU signing from The Korea Times, Korean Minister of the Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Seok Jong-gun, shared similar thoughts, saying that this involves more than armament exports from South Korea, but also developing the Malaysian arms industry.
"Going beyond exports of weapons systems, (Korea) will contribute to strengthening Malaysia's defence capabilities and advancing its arms industry as a 'genuine partner,' as well as work for regional peace and stability in South-East Asia," he was quoted in the report.
In the lead-up to the signing, Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the country has much to learn from South Korea, and further highlighted the country's advancements in aerospace, surveillance, cyber defence, and advanced manufacturing.
He said last September during a keynote address at the Third Malaysia-Korea Defence Industry Cooperation Seminar: "Malaysia is ready to learn from South Korea’s expertise, embrace technology transfer, and pursue co-development and co-production."
Mohamed Khaled added that such a collaboration would not merely involve purchasing defence technology, but also the willingness of South Korea to share, transfer, and help build Malaysia's industry.
Such collaborations have already materialised with neighbouring countries, including Indonesia, which jointly developed the KF-21, a new multirole fighter jet platform indigenous to South Korea, with its mass production beginning at the end of March this year.
On the topic of aircraft, an official with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), a South Korean aircraft and defence manufacturer, said that with the upcoming initial shipment of four FA-50M light multirole fighter jets to the Royal Malaysian Air Force in October, there is an opportunity for further collaboration in terms of other programmes.
He adds that this would raise the need for maintenance for continued operations, which is known as a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) programme, which would function as knowledge and technology sharing.
"If KAI provides that kind of facilities and technologies to the Royal Malaysian Air Force or government, then they can build their own local maintenance capabilities over time.
"In (the) case of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, they (can) retrieve some technologies and techniques from Korea. In the future, we (can) consider that kind of collaboration program between two countries," the official said to StarLifestyle during a media visit to KAI facilities in Sacheon, Korea.
Such aerospace industry collaboration may even extend to both civilian and military aircraft, aerospace software and artificial intelligence (AI), and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), along with education and training.
The KAI official adds that in the future, "we would be open to discuss industrial cooperation programmes".
He further says that such collaboration could encompass both civilian and military aircraft, aerospace software and AI, and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), adding "including the education and training".
On the topic of AI, Kim says that the technology's use in the national defence sector is being explored, with projects under the country's Defence Innovation 4.0 initiative aiming to leverage cutting-edge science and technology across a variety of use cases.
This includes the large-scale investments in developing technologies under the umbrella of physical AI in the form of robots, drones, and stealth fighter jets through the Future Challenge Defence Technology Project.
The KAI official also described the company's development of a KAILOT, or the KAI AI pilot, which aims to function as an autonomous UAV system which places in them a supporting role to fighter jets
"We have several different types of UAVs, as I said, under development. So that UAVs can fly without any control, because they have their own AI processing system in the aircraft.
"So it can be used for the wingman with the main aircraft. So one manned aircraft with three unmanned AI UAVs can fly at the same time, so they can operate and cooperate in real time.
"And manned aircraft can assign missions such as deception, EW (Electromagnetic Warfare), ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), and strike to a designated point.
"Then UAVs can move to the target and carry out the assigned missions. So that is one of the concepts being studied in our AI operating concept," he says.
The official adds with the software under development, UAVs would be able to "fly with a high level of autonomy under the command."
Other advancements in the South Korean defence industry include the Cheongwang anti-drone laser defence system, first fielded at the end of 2024, which utilises a high-powered fibre-optic laser to target low-cost drones.
DAPA announced earlier this month that it had successfully developed a domestically produced laser oscillator, a core component of the Cheongwang system, while also improving its performance, reducing the time needed to intercept a drone from two to four seconds to just one to two seconds.
Meanwhile, the KAI official highlighted that the company is also currently developing metaverse-based training systems, along with diagnostics systems intended for aircraft maintenance capable of comprehensively tracking and detecting all parts and conditions of an aircraft.
