"We delivered our CCA platform last year and will having flight tests at the end of this year," Director of International Business for KE-ASD Haneul Kim told reporters during a late‑October briefing at Korean Air Aerospace Division's research facility in Daejeon.
LOWUS demonstrators, dimensions, and near‑term schedule
Korean Air Aerospace Division (KE‑ASD) is preparing its Low Observable Wingman Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle System (LOWUS) for an initial flight by the end of this year, company executives said. KE‑ASD has already handed two technology demonstrator aircraft to South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD) to support those early trials.
The demonstrator LOWUS aircraft measure 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) in length with a 9.4‑meter wingspan. KE‑ASD plans to move the design into a full‑scale development program slated to begin in 2029 to meet the anticipated timeline for South Korea’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) competition. The Korean government has not indicated a start date for the competition. When fielded, the eventual CCA winner is expected to be deployed alongside manned platforms and later production blocks of the KF‑21 fighter.
Propulsion roadmap: replacing the AI‑222 with a domestic 5,500‑lbf turbofan
The initial demonstrators are powered by the Ukrainian AI‑222 engine, but ADD and Hanwha are developing a domestic 5,500‑lbf turbofan intended to replace it. That engine is expected to be ready in 2032 and, according to company announcements, would enable LOWUS to fly "up to Mach 0.8" and stay aloft for "up to three hours." The propulsion transition is therefore a multi‑year program element that links demonstrator flights, full‑scale development and operational capability.
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See what we buildSensors, mission set, and planned MUM‑T trials with a KT‑1
KE‑ASD said LOWUS will be equipped with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and electro‑optical systems. Sumno Jung, KE‑ASD’s senior manager for systems integration, told reporters the platform’s initial mission set will be reconnaissance, with capabilities to be expanded to "penetrating contested airspace ahead of manned aircraft for strike and other combat missions."
The demonstrators used for the upcoming flight tests will pave the way for manned‑unmanned teaming (MUM‑T) trials. Those trials are scheduled to begin at the end of 2027 with an ADD‑operated KT‑1 turboprop trainer acting as the manned node in the experiments.
ADD’s AI Pilot project and KE‑ASD’s swarm software demonstration
On the autonomy side, ADD has launched a project to develop an "AI Pilot" featuring AI‑enabled air combat technologies. Jung said there are plans to retrofit and integrate that AI Pilot into the LOWUS aircraft currently under development for flight demonstrations.
KE‑ASD has also invested heavily in AI‑enabled swarm software. At the September 2026 Defense Drone Tech Fair the company demonstrated a fleet of 22 drones that "autonomously carried out coordinated reconnaissance, high‑maneuver swarm flight and precision strike missions, managed through Korean Air’s proprietary integrated battle management system," according to a KE‑ASD social media post about the event. Video from the demonstration showed the 22 drones splitting into two swarms: one acting as decoys to occupy a simulated adversary air defense system while the other swarm executed an attack by crashing into a preset target in rapid succession.
The company’s social media post emphasized autonomy in the command layer: "The system does more than provide voice updates based on a pre‑set scenario: it uses AI to assess mission status in real time and communicate relevant updates. It can also retrieve drone status and weather information in response to user queries, making it optimized for operations in the field."
What this means for the Agency for Defense Development, KE‑ASD, and Hanwha
- Agency for Defense Development (ADD): ADD is central to multiple strands of the program — receiving demonstrators for flight tests, co‑developing the domestic 5,500‑lbf engine with Hanwha, and leading the AI Pilot effort slated for retrofit into LOWUS.
- KE‑ASD: The aerospace division is positioning LOWUS as its entry in the CCA competition, moving demonstrators into near‑term flight tests, integrating AESA and electro‑optical sensors, and fielding proprietary battle management and swarm software validated in the September demonstration.
- Hanwha: As a co‑developer of the planned 5,500‑lbf turbofan, Hanwha’s timeline and technical delivery will directly affect LOWUS’s transition from demonstrator to sustained operational capability.
The program as described is a sequence of linked milestones: demonstrator flights by the end of the year, MUM‑T trials with a KT‑1 at the end of 2027, entry into full‑scale development in 2029, and a domestic engine targeted for 2032. Each date is a hinge point — and the Korean government has yet to announce the formal timetable for the CCA competition that LOWUS is being positioned to enter. The coming months will show whether the demonstrators and the AI‑enabled software stack can meet the operational expectations KE‑ASD and ADD have laid out.
