South Korea’s technology giant Naver has partnered with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Naver Cloud to develop a sovereign artificial intelligence model tailored for the country’s defense sector.
The effort aims to reduce reliance on foreign AI technologies, allowing Seoul to maintain greater control and reduce potential vulnerabilities in critical defense systems.
Building a Defense AI Foundation
The three companies will jointly develop a defense-specific AI foundation model designed to serve as the backbone for future military AI applications.
According to the partners, the model will support government-led research and development programs while enabling new defense capabilities.
The companies also plan to integrate AI into future aerospace platforms, including manned-unmanned teaming, autonomous flight, and mission execution technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
According to Yonhap News, the partnership will explore physical AI technologies, including AI pilots and autonomous UAV platforms, by integrating them into KAI’s next-generation air combat system meant to connect crewed and uncrewed aircraft, satellites, and other battlefield assets into a unified combat network.
Advancing AI-Enabled Warfare
The partnership supports KAI’s broader efforts to develop AI-enabled defense platforms for increasingly connected battlefield environments.
Naver chief executive Choi Soo-yeon said technological self-reliance in defense and security is closely tied to national sovereignty, making an independent sovereign AI infrastructure “more important than anything else.”
She added that combining Naver’s AI capabilities with KAI’s defense expertise would strengthen South Korea’s defense technology independence and improve its competitiveness in future defense markets.
