On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) under the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea announced a rollout ceremony at the Korean Air Aerospace Division research institute in Busan for the first production example of the RQ-105K unmanned aerial vehicle, developed under the MUAV (Medium-Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) program in cooperation with Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1, under the supervision of DAPA and the Agency for Defense Development (ADD).
Photo: news1 via DAPA
The event was attended by about 300 people. Honorary guests included DAPA Minister Lee Yong-chul, as well as key representatives of the military and government, the defense industry, and sector specialists, including the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force (Daehanminguk Gong-gun), the Director General of the Policy Bureau at the Ministry of National Defense, the Director General of the 2nd Planning Bureau at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President of ADD, and the President of the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (DTaQ).
During the event, the aircraft was presented together with its ground control station. After acceptance testing conducted by the Air Force, production aircraft will be delivered sequentially beginning in 2027. In addition, based on the key technologies and operational foundations acquired during the research and development process, it is expected that the military’s buildup of capabilities to respond to changes on the battlefield, centered on hybrid manned-unmanned combat systems, will begin in earnest.
Serial production began in December 2023, according to information released on January 25, 2024. As stated in the press release, despite numerous technical challenges encountered during the program, a high level of localization was achieved, reaching nearly 90%.
MUAV
In 2006, the launch of the MUAV program was announced, with the aim of developing a domestic counterpart to the American General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper, albeit an unarmed version. In 2008, the ADD agency and KAL-ASD were selected as the prime designers, and development of the future platform began under the name KUS-FS.
However, in December 2012 the program was effectively duplicated when the United States approved the sale of Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition, development of the domestic design was suspended due to problems such as icing at medium altitudes and the loss of a prototype in December 2019.
Although the development schedule was extended because of several issues, in March 2023 DAPA granted the KUS-FS project military airworthiness certification and ultimately completed its development. The aircraft was officially designated the RQ-105K MUAV.
The RQ-105K has an overall length of 13 m, a wingspan of 25 m, and a height of 3 m. It is powered by a 1,200 hp (890 kW) Hanwha Aerospace turboprop engine with 24.46 kN of thrust, derived from the Samsung Techwin SS-760K turbojet engine rated at 4.67 kN. The aircraft is equipped with a Hanwha Systems EO/IR electro-optical sensor turret and a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) supplied by LIG Nex1.
In addition, alongside the development of the RQ-105K platform, a maritime patrol and observation variant was also proposed, including for missions such as fire monitoring. In 2023, DAPA also proposed the concept of a combat unmanned aircraft designated MQ-105K. It is expected that Hanwha Aerospace’s TAipers anti-tank guided missile, or another anti-tank missile being developed specifically for unmanned aerial vehicles by LIG Nex1, will be integrated with the MQ-105K. This is also seen as part of a strategy to counter the newly unveiled North Korean drones, the Saetbyol-4 and Saetbyol-9, which are visual copies of the American RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9A Reaper (North Korean Copies Of American Drones Up Close).
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