Actus des entreprises

Airbus D&S CEO discuss aerospace industry cooperation with Korean Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang and Airbus Defense and Space (D&S) CEO Michael Schoellhorn met on November 16 at the Government Complex Seoul to discuss measures to strengthen the aerospace and defense industry.

Airbus D&S is a division of Airbus SE, the European multinational aerospace corporation and on the occasion of its chief’s visit to South Korea, the meeting was convened.

Noting the recent successful flight test of the KF-21 and exports of FA-50s to Poland, the Airbus D&S CEO proposed a win-win strategy by which finished Korean aircraft can be exported to Western Europe, according to the MOITE.

Airbus is considering building its fifth Asian R&D center in South Korea, planning to increase its current 700 billion won ($520 million) worth of purchases of shipments manufactured by Korea’s middle-market firms and SMEs to over 1 trillion won in the future.

Michael Schoellhorn also said that Airbus was seeking ways to contribute to Korea’s space industry development in view of the nation’s successful launch of Nuri-ho rocket, so as to broaden the range of space cooperation with Korea.

The minister Lee promised to provide extensive support once Airbus decides to build an R&D center in South Korea. “The R&D center will even further accelerate bilateral cooperation, and the close partnership between Airbus and the European Space Agency will be a valuable tip for South Korea’s space agency establishment plan,” he said.

On November 28th, the Korean government announced the future space roadmap as well as the establishment of the new space agency, named Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) to oversee government led space programs, doubling the budget that was $616 million, o.o4 percent of its GDP, in 2021, according to the MSTI to $1.2 billion by 2027. “Korea will develop a rocket engine for a lunar mission with domestic technologies in five years and begin resource mining on the lunar surface in 2032. The government hopes to achieve a Mars landing by 2045” said President Yoon.