KAI, Naver team up to develop defense AI platform

From left, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, Korea Aerospace Industries CEO Kim Jong-chul and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yoo-won pose after signing a memorandum of understanding on aerospace and defense artificial intelligence cooperation during a ceremony held at KAI's headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. Yonhap

Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Korean portal operator Naver will jointly develop an artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model tailored for the defense sector, the companies said Tuesday.

KAI, the developer of the homegrown KF-21 fighter jet, Naver and its cloud arm, Naver Cloud, signed a memorandum of understanding for an aerospace and defense AI partnership at KAI's headquarters in the southeastern city of Sacheon on Monday.

Under the agreement, the three companies will combine Naver's AI and cloud technologies with KAI's aerospace expertise and defense system integration capabilities to develop an AI foundation model optimized for defense applications.

They also plan to strengthen sovereign AI capabilities for defense, develop proprietary AI models, advance physical AI technologies and expand the country's defense AI ecosystem.

Sovereign AI refers to AI systems that are independently developed and operated to align with a country's data, language, regulatory and security requirements.

Priority areas include autonomous flight and mission execution technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as an AI platform for next-generation combat systems.

The companies also plan to work on physical AI technologies, including AI pilots and autonomous UAV platforms, by integrating them with KAI's next-generation air combat system, which connects manned and unmanned fighter aircraft, satellites and other battlefield assets into a unified combat network.