Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)is funding a technology acquisition effort in anticipation of a future combat drone program.

The company’s work extends to building a scaled version of its design, which it has already put in the air.

KAI’s concept, called K-UCAV, would conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, including suppression of enemy air defenses. The stealthy airplane would also operate as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft with an “excellent sensor system,” the company says.

No concrete South Korean requirement for a combat drone has been revealed, and industry executives say there is none.

But research into such aircraft may be one way for Korea Aerospace to maintain its combat aircraft skills. The company has built up a fighter design capability with the T-50 supersonic trainer program, which has also produced the FA-50 light attack aircraft, but approval of its next fighter project, the semi-stealthy KF-X, is in doubt.

One criticism of the KF-X is that it would appear too late in the history of the piloted fighter and that South Korea would more wisely focus its development resources on unmanned aircraft.

At the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition here last week, KAI displayed the 20% scale model of the K‑UCAV that it has built to validate the aerodynamic aspects of its design.

The research effort began last year, initially focusing on a blended-wing design that was dropped after aerodynamic analysis suggested it would be difficult to control.

Flight testing of the model, which began last year, confirms that the finally adopted configuration, with a V tail and a distinct body, is easily controlled.

The K-UCAV would have a gross weight at takeoff of 4.055 metric tons (8,900 lb.) and fly as high as 12,000 meters (39,000 ft.) and as fast as Mach 0.85. Endurance is given as 5 hr., wingspan 9.1 meters and length 8.4 meters. No details about propulsion are available.