First look: KAI and Hanwha Systems reveal Bombardier Global 6500-based EW aircraft for Korea
September 30, 2025
South Korea has reached a defining moment in its effort to domestically field a large‑scale electronic warfare (EW) aircraft. Detailed design cues, partners, platform choice and programme scale are now public.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), together with Hanwha Systems, revealed its new electronic warfare aircraft design at the 2025 Electromagnetic Warfare Workshop in Seoul on 17 September.
A KAi official said on 28 September that the design has been submitted as part of their official bid for the Defence Acquisition Program Administration’s (DAPA) Block-I electronic warfare aircraft development project. DAPA has set the development programme budget at KRW 1.7775 trillion ($1.3 billion) and plans indicate delivery of four operational aircraft by around 2034.
South Korea’s first fully indigenous electronic warfare aircraft system
The newly revealed concept is part of a broader national effort to develop South Korea’s first fully indigenous electronic warfare aircraft, capable of executing long-range jamming and suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD).
Unlike leased or foreign-supplied capabilities, this platform is intended to serve as a sovereign asset designed, integrated, and fielded by Korean industry for Korean defence needs. It will support frontline operations by disabling adversary radar, disrupting communications, and denying electromagnetic spectrum access across contested airspace.
This marks a critical step in the country’s transition from being a consumer of high-end defence systems to becoming a producer of them, with implications for operational independence, regional deterrence, and future export potential.
What is Korea’s EW aircraft designed to do?
At its core, the Block‑I requirement is straightforward for modern EW doctrine: create a platform able to detect, analyse and jam adversary radars and communications, degrading integrated air‑defence systems and command networks at stand‑off ranges.
The aircraft is intended to offer persistent, long‑range electronic attack capability to support suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) and to protect strike packages and national airspace in high‑intensity scenarios.
KAI positions the concept as a domestic equivalent to advanced Western systems, notably the US Air Force’s EA‑37B (Compass Call) series, highlighting both mission intent and ambition.
The EA-37B Compass Call is a wide-area airborne electronic attack weapon system using a heavily modified version of the Gulfstream G550 airframe.
KAI and Hanwha plan to turn a Bombardier business jet into a military EW workhorse
Unlike simple mission‑kit bolt‑ons, KAI emphasises an integrated, mission‑centred design. Key technical approaches disclosed are:
- Platform choice and rationale: The Bombardier Global 6500 was selected for its endurance, range and cabin volume, familiar traits that have made Global‑class jets popular for ISR/EW missions globally.
- Side‑mounted mission architecture: Instead of large belly pods, KAI and Hanwha propose side‑integrated equipment housings on both fuselage flanks. This is intended to minimise external protrusion, preserve flight safety and ground clearance, and optimise antenna geometry for EW aperture performance. KAI states that the proposal’s external profile is broadly comparable to the EA‑37B in terms of protrusion and capability.
- Miniaturisation and weight control: Hanwha and KAI stress miniaturised subsystems to reduce weight and aerodynamic penalty, an approach that preserves centre‑of‑gravity stability and maximises sortie endurance.
- Thermal, power and structural integration: Major attention has been paid to power distribution, cooling for high‑power jammers, and structural accommodation so the aircraft’s flight characteristics remain within safe envelopes even under mission load.
- Full system integration approach: KAI, as Korea’s only complete aircraft systems integrator, emphasises continuity from shape design through testing and airworthiness certification, drawing on decades of domestic aircraft work.
KAI frames the project as the culmination of 40 years of domestic airframe development and integration experience. KAI can boast of:
- Trainer and fast‑jet families (KT‑1, T‑50 family including FA‑50);
- The indigenous KF‑21 fighter development;
- Rotary solutions (KUH, LAH);
- Conversion projects and special‑mission aircraft such as the Boeing 737‑based Peace Eye (AEW&C) and the P‑3CK maritime patrol conversions.
Hanwha Systems brings expertise in defence electronics, jamming suites and sensor processing, a capability complement that, on paper, forms the full stack needed for airborne EW.
Rival bid and the competitive landscape: Korean Air and LIG Nex1 in the ring with a G550 concept
DAPA’s tender attracted at least two main consortia. The Korean Air + LIG Nex1 team proposes a Gulfstream‑class conversion (G550) and leverages Korean Air’s heavy maintenance and retrofit experience plus LIG’s EW system pedigree (which includes work on the KF‑21 and naval platforms).
The competition underscores a national drive to keep the industrial value chain largely domestic while choosing a globally proven airframe family.
DAPA formalised the plan in April 2025; bid submissions were due through the summer/autumn cycle with selection expected quickly thereafter.
The envisaged outcome: system development through to prototype and flight test, then production of four operational Block‑I aircraft delivered by around 2034.
Functionally, the aircraft will be tasked to jam, deny and deceive enemy radars and communications at stand‑off distances, provide force protection and contribute to integrated joint operations.
Several challenges are clear:
- Thermal and power density: High‑power jammers demand significant electrical power and cooling; integrating these into a business‑jet platform while preserving endurance is non‑trivial.
- Certification and airworthiness: Converting a civilian airframe for continuous military EW use involves demanding structural and electromagnetic compatibility testing, plus flight safety certification.
- Supply chain and sovereign content: While the plan emphasises domestic tech, some critical components (e.g. advanced semiconductors, certain RF components) may remain imported, with attendant geopolitical supply risks.
- Cost, schedule and prototype risk: The KRW 1.7775 trillion budget is substantial but development schedules for high‑power EW systems are typically protracted and technically demanding.
- Operational anthropology: Training, tactics, doctrine and maintenance ecosystems must be established alongside the platform for it to be operationally effective.
What’s next for Korea’s EW aircraft project?
Delivering a domestically developed EW aircraft is a leap for South Korea’s “K‑defence” ambition. It would reduce reliance on allied systems for high‑end electromagnetic‑spectrum warfare, enhance deterrence vis‑à‑vis regional threats, and potentially create an exportable capability for partners seeking alternatives to US/EU suppliers.
Analysts also note geopolitical sensitivity. Airborne EW affects airspace access, coalition interoperability and intelligence sharing, so Seoul will likely balance domestic sovereignty with alliance interoperability when configuring final systems.
Success for the winning bidder will be measured by reliable integration of jamming suites without compromising flight safety, timely prototype testing, and demonstrable mission capability margins (effective jamming range, spectral agility, reliability metrics).
Watchpoints in the months ahead include DAPA’s contractor selection, detailed system‑of‑systems requirements, demonstration timelines, and whether KAI/Hanwha or Korean Air/LIG secure export‑friendly certification paths that would support future sales.
South Korea’s Block‑I EW aircraft competition has moved beyond concept to concrete design choices and industrial pairings.
The public reveal by KAI at the aT Centre in Seoul is the clearest disclosure yet of what a Korean electronic warfare/stand-off jammer (EW/SOJ) might look like.
If delivered on time and to specification, the programme would mark a major milestone for Seoul’s defence industrialisation and electromagnetic‑spectrum sovereignty and would offer a provocative new capability in a region where control of the airwaves increasingly matters as much as control of the skies.
