Promoting the development of 'EGI for LAH' under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense
Target to commercialize by 2025... Anticipation of breaking away from overseas dependence
Duksan Group's challenge to localize materials and parts has expanded beyond the existing industries such as semiconductor and display to the aerospace. It jumped into independence in Embedded GPS and INS (EGI) with its subsidiary, Duksan Navcours, that had been dependent on foreign products.
On the 4th, Duksan Navcours announced that it was selected as the final development supervisor for the 'Weapons System Equipment Localization Development Support Project' by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration of the Ministry of National Defense. The goal of the project is to localize the EGI to be mounted on a domestic light armed helicopter (LAH) with a total budget of KRW 5.34 billion over a three-year period. The EGI development will begin this year, and commercialization will begin in 2025. It is under the spotlight since localizing defense industry parts were previously dependent on foreign countries almost 100%. EGI is a market that has been monopolized by global aerospace high-tech companies because of difficult technicality level. Duksan Navcours is the first Korean company to enter into the EGI business. EGI has been monopolized by US’ Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, and France’s Safran.
EGI is a key navigation device that communicates with satellites to control the rotation and glider of armed helicopters. Duksan Navcours plans to apply its know-how accumulated over 26 years to apply in localizing products. Duksan has distinguished itself in the field of 4-element array antenna, anti-jamming device, and EGI in the aviation field. Duksan Navcours has been recognized for its technology in the aerospace industry, such as developing Nuri satellite navigation receiver.
Achieving 'localization' of materials and parts of the Duksan Group is expected to stand out to another level as Duksan Navcours pursues to localize EGI. This is because expanding its field from the localization of materials and parts in the semiconductor and display fields to the aerospace field after Duksan Group Chairman Junho Lee established the company. Since the establishment of Duksan Hi-Metal in 1999, Chairman Lee has carried on the spirit of 'industrialism' of materials and parts industries build a nation.
Duksan successfully localized key semiconductor material, solder balls, and organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials.
An official from Duksan Navcours said, “Once the development of EGI for light armed helicopters completes, the military power will not only advance and become elite, as well as capabilities of R&D in the aerospace field will excel. It would open up the door for future exports, as well as to contribute to the improvement of national industrial competitiveness in the field of aviation.”
Duksan Navcours is a company acquired by Duksan Hi-Metal in 2021, which is a company specializing in semiconductor materials of the Duksan Group. It will show excellence in technological prowess in areas such as high-precision EGI parts for aerospace, algorithm development for position correction, and anti-jamming. The company is focusing on securing differentiated technology to the extent that 40% of all employees are R&D personnel.
By Staff Reporter Kim Jiwoong (jw0316@etnews.com)