Hanwha Systems tests AESA radar system for Korean fighter jet

Hanwha Systems Co., a South Korean defense and IT service company, said on Sunday that it had installed and tested its own radar system on a prototype of the country’s first proprietary fighter jet.

The radar system, known as an active electronically scanned array or AESA, is a key component of modern air warfare that can detect and track multiple air and ground targets over a wide area.

Hanwha Systems said it had conducted a flight test with the AESA radar on the third prototype of the Korean Fighter eXperimental (KF-X) jet, also called KF-21 Boramae.

The company said it would continue to test the radar’s performance, such as its maximum detection and tracking range and accuracy, until Feb. 2026. It would also evaluate its suitability for operational use.

Hanwha Systems has been developing the AESA radar since 2016 in collaboration with the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), a state-run research institute. The company said it had previously tested the radar on a modified civilian aircraft in South Africa in 2021 and completed functional and performance verification through domestic flight tests from Nov. 2022 to Feb. 2023.

“We will optimize the required performance of AESA radar and contribute to the successful development of Korean fighter jets,” said Eoh Sungchul, president of Hanwha Systems.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com