Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is actively conducting R&D on core technologies in aircraft gas turbine engines, high-speed propulsion systems, and electric propulsion systems.
In the area of gas turbine engines for aviation, KARI acquired design and performance evaluation technologies through international collaborations in the 1990s. Since the 2000s, it has led the development of the main engine and auxiliary power unit (APU) for the Korean Helicopter Program (KHP) and has conducted foundational R&D in the design, analysis, and testing of core components such as compressors, combustors, and turbines.
For high-speed propulsion systems, KARI has laid the groundwork for practical applications by developing key technologies for air-turbo ramjet engines and scramjet engines.
As part of its efforts toward eco-friendly future propulsion systems, KARI is also conducting research on core technologies for electric propulsion systems to be used in next-generation electric aircraft.
More recently, KARI has expanded its research to include propulsion systems for future air vehicles, such as gas turbine engines for manned and unmanned aircraft, micro gas turbines for small UAVs, hypersonic propulsion systems, and hybrid electric propulsion systems based on gas turbines.