S.Korea's military aircraft exports to NATO get major boost

South Korea has concluded a deal with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on mutual recognition of certification of military aircraft airworthiness for flight safety. 

The country is the first in Asia pushing for such recognition with NATO.

The government-run Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on Wednesday signed an agreement with the NATO Aviation Committee at the security body’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to initiate the approval process for the certification.

To be conducted by a government agency, the certification means that an aircraft has no problems with flight safety. Mutual recognition of this allows NATO to recognize such certification by South Korea of military planes exported to NATO member countries like its own.

“This came about thanks to global recognition of South Korea’s airworthiness certification capacity and the safety of domestic aircraft,” the DAPA said on its push for mutual recognition of the certification.

Write to Dong-Hyun Kim at 3code@hankyung.com