Hanwha Aerospace to develop fighter jet engine materials

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace Co. is set to develop fighter jet engine materials able to resist flames of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius, which now are wholly imported, to contribute to the country’s goal of becoming one of the top-four largest global defense exporters.

Hanwha Aerospace on Tuesday agreed to work on the project for Inconel 718 superheat resisting alloy forging and casting materials for turbofan aviation engines with the Korea Aerospace Technology Research Association, the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, the Seoul National University and others.

They plan to develop the country’s own technology for manufacturing the high-strength nickel alloy that can be hardened by precipitation, which helps keep its resistance, strength, oxidation, and ductility in the most extreme environments, by 2026 as a part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's technology development project. Hanwha and its partners also plan to establish a database for the materials.

100% SOUTH KOREAN TECHNOLOGY

“We aim to contribute to South Korea’s self-defense and exports with 100% local technology developed in cooperation with industry-academic research institutes of engine materials, which major countries can ban selling abroad,” a Hanwha Aerospace official said in a statement.

The subsidiary of the chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group, which has produced more than 9,000 aviation engines for 40 years, already started the development of engine materials for unmanned aircraft in January.

The company aims to develop its own engines for unmanned aircraft, which make up more than 40% of their total production costs, within the next decade, its Vice President Hong Jaeki said in May.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.