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Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies is the second Australian company in a week to secure an agreement with Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, which is leveraging local capabilities to shore up its commercial and defence capabilities in the space domain.
Hanwha Aerospace and its subsidiary Hanwha Defence Australia have signed a three-way memorandum of understanding to develop a “sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship” that they say will advance the broader strategic interests for Australia and Korea within the space sector.
The move follows an agreement signed last week between Hanwha and Sydney-headquartered Advanced Navigation, a global leader in assured positioning navigation and timing (APNT) technologies that Hanwha plans to work with to develop strategic-grade APNT solutions.
Hanwha is South Korea's leading space solution provider, with the Hanwha Aerospace division providing critical support across the nation's space programs.
The company’s Hanwha Ocean subsidiary earlier this year had been eyeing a $1 billion takeover of Perth-based shipbuilder Austal (ASX: ASB) – a deal that appears little progressed in light of tough regulatory barriers that Austal noted at the time were unlikely to be overcome.
But Hanwha is no stranger to Australian collaborations which include the development of the Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicles.
Sean Yim, space program manager at Hanwha Aerospace, says programs such as the Redback vehicle serve as a strong foundation for future agreements domestically for the company.
Yim notes that the Gilmour Space agreement will “pave the way for enhanced cooperation between South Korea and Australia in the increasingly important space industry”.
Gilmour Space Technologies is a fully integrated space launch services provider that has developed the Australian-made Eris launch vehicles. The venture-backed company has secured launch facilities at the Bowen Orbital Space Port in Queensland, which is the country's first licensed orbital launch site.
"Space is a global market that's growing exponentially," says Adam Gilmour, CEO and co-founder of Gilmour Space Technologies.
"We look forward to expanding the new space opportunities between Australia and South Korea."
Hanwha sees the agreement with Gilmour Space leading to a larger research and development and manufacturing footprint Australia for the Korean giant.
"The memorandum of understanding signed here today demonstrates our firm intention to place Hanwha Defence Australia in the space domain," says Dean Michie, the acting managing director of Hanwha Defence Australia.
"All three companies are at the cutting edge of their fields, and I look forward to working with our partners to bring together new and innovative capabilities."
Meanwhile, the agreement secured between Hanwha and Advanced Navigation last week will lead to a collaboration for the development of high-performance inertial navigation systems (INS) for autonomous, airborne and crewed systems.
These will be used for precision targeting and vehicle navigation in global navigation satellite system-contested environments across land and air domains.
Under the agreement, the co-developed solutions will be integrated into Hanwha Aerospace’s global supply chain, aiding the advancement of the broader strategic APNT interests for Australia and international markets.
“The landscape of sovereign defence manufacturing is experiencing a seismic shift, driven by advanced technologies like automation, machine learning, and precision engineering,” says Advanced Navigation CEO Chris Shaw.
“Traditional approaches are no longer sufficient in meeting the complex demands of modern PNT systems.”
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