Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is regarded as the only integrated domestic developer and manufacturer of complete aircraft, covering concept and system development through mass production and follow-on maintenance and logistics support.
Its business splits broadly into domestic defense programs (KF-21, the LAH light armed helicopter, the T-50 family, Surion), complete-aircraft exports (FA-50 variants and T-50i), airframe structures supplied to Boeing and Airbus, aircraft maintenance through subsidiaries, and a space division centered on satellites and launch vehicles.
Per the 2025 annual report, the parent-basis customer mix was 48.42% domestic including the defense procurement agency, 26.05% from Boeing, Airbus, IAI and others, and 25.53% from complete-aircraft export countries such as Poland, so domestic defense and export or commercial work each account for roughly half.
In space, the company was the first private-sector prime for next-generation mid-size and defense satellite programs and handles final assembly of the Korean launch vehicle as well as fabrication of its first-stage propellant tank.
Subsidiary KAEMS has capacity for roughly 270 commercial and rotary-wing aircraft a year, handled 242 units in 2025 for about 82.4% utilization, while S&K Aerospace held around 87% utilization on a line capable of up to 28 Airbus A320 wing structures a month.
Customers are mainly the government and the military, so contracts are large and cash collection cycles long, and domestically the company is effectively the sole supplier for complete-aircraft development and production.
Abroad, however, it competes head-on with Western and emerging platforms in trainers, light attack aircraft and 4.5-generation fighters; Indonesia, for instance, is already executing a 42-unit Rafale contract with France.
On the KF-21, KAI supplies the airframe, Hanwha Aerospace the engine and Hanwha Systems the radar and avionics, so a single aircraft sale is spread across several listed companies.