Partnership targets autonomous aircraft, AI pilots and physical AI-based defense systems
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Team Naver are joining forces to develop artificial intelligence-based future combat systems, seeking to build a domestically developed defense AI platform and strengthen South Korea’s technological independence in next-generation warfare.
KAI said on July 7 that it signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Naver and Naver Cloud at its headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, to cooperate in aerospace and defense AI technologies.
The signing ceremony was attended by KAI President and CEO Kim Jong-chul, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won, along with other senior executives from the three companies.
The partnership focuses on combining KAI’s aerospace and defense expertise with Team Naver’s AI and cloud capabilities to develop a sovereign AI platform tailored to national defense.
The key objective is to reduce reliance on foreign AI platforms and secure independent technologies optimized for South Korea’s security environment and military requirements.
The three companies will first work together on autonomous flight and mission technologies for unmanned aircraft, as well as an AI platform capable of managing future combat systems.
They plan to focus on technologies that allow AI to analyze battlefield conditions in real time and coordinate multiple unmanned assets across increasingly complex operational environments.
Physical AI will also be a major area of cooperation. The technology enables AI systems to control and operate physical hardware such as drones, robots and unmanned aircraft, allowing them to perceive real-world environments and carry out missions with greater autonomy.
As military operations increasingly combine software intelligence with autonomous hardware, physical AI is emerging as a key technology for next-generation defense systems.
KAI, Naver and Naver Cloud also plan to jointly participate in government research and development programs and state-backed projects based on block funding. Their cooperation is intended to extend beyond technology development to commercialization and the broader expansion of South Korea’s defense AI ecosystem through public-private-military collaboration.
The partnership is expected to support KAI’s development of its Next Air Combat System, or NACS.
Future battlefields are expected to connect manned and unmanned aircraft, satellites and various autonomous platforms through a single network. In such an environment, AI pilots, autonomous mission execution and real-time coordination between multiple assets are becoming increasingly important.
By integrating Team Naver’s AI technologies with KAI’s aerospace platforms, the companies aim to strengthen the technological foundation for intelligent and autonomous combat operations.
The partnership comes as competition over AI capabilities intensifies across the global defense industry. Major defense companies in the United States and Europe are increasing investment in generative AI, autonomous systems and AI-enabled battlefield management, pushing aerospace and technology companies to form closer partnerships.
The KAI-Team Naver alliance represents a similar move in South Korea, bringing together a major aerospace and defense company with one of the country’s leading AI and cloud technology groups.
“With global competition in defense AI intensifying, it is critical to combine the country’s highest levels of technological capability,” Kim said. “Through the synergy between aerospace and AI technologies, we will secure technological sovereignty in defense AI and strengthen our global competitiveness in physical AI-based future combat systems.”
Choi said technological independence in defense and national security is directly linked to national competitiveness.
“Based on Team Naver’s AI and cloud technologies, we will contribute to building South Korea’s defense AI ecosystem and strengthening its global competitiveness,” she said.
The collaboration signals a broader shift in South Korea’s defense industry, where competitiveness is increasingly determined not only by the performance of individual aircraft or weapons platforms, but also by the ability to connect and operate them through AI.
For KAI and Team Naver, the goal is to establish a domestically controlled AI foundation capable of supporting autonomous missions and future combat networks, while positioning South Korean technology for competition in the emerging global market for AI-driven defense systems.
