KAI expects 2023 sales to grow by a third, driven by fighter jets

Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), South Korea’s sole military aircraft manufacturer, said on Wednesday it aims to achieve 3.83 trillion won ($3 billion) in revenue this year, up 37% from 2022, driven by sales of advanced fighter jets.

Orders for military equipment will reach 4.48 trillion won by the end of 2023, although some of which won’t be reflected in this year’s results because deliveries will be made over several years.

“Our sales target for this year will back up our ambitious goal of achieving 40 trillion won in annual sales by 2050,” said a company official.

Twelve FA-50 light fighter jets set to be delivered to Poland by the end of 2023 will be reflected in this year’s performance results.

Last September, KAI signed a $3 billion deal to export 48 FA-50 fighter jets to Poland by 2028.

Domestic supersonic fighter jet KF-21, amphibious attack helicopters and minesweeper helicopters will also contribute to its revenue and profit growth this year, company officials said.

RECORD ORDER BACKLOG

Earlier on Wednesday, KAI said it posted 141.6 billion won in operating profit on sales of 2.79 trillion won in 2022, up 143% and 8.8%, respectively, from the previous year thanks to increased orders for plane parts and a weaker won versus the dollar.

Last year’s net profit more than doubled to 115.9 billion won.

The company snapped up 8.74 trillion won in orders last year, up 208% from the previous year. The order backlog at the end of 2022 reached a record high of 24.6 trillion won.

In the fourth quarter, sales rose 9% year-on-year to 868.8 trillion won. It swung to profit by posting a quarterly operating profit of 37.5 billion won.

In the long run, the company aims to sell 1,000 units of the FA-50 light combat aircraft worth 40 trillion won over the next decade.

The FA-50 is a variant of KAI's T-50 supersonic trainer jet, co-developed with Lockheed Martin Corp., using some of the US defense company's technologies.

KAI has exported light attack aircraft to Iraq, the Philippines and Thailand. The Korean Air Force has been operating 60 FA-50s since 2014.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.