For U.S. defense companies and investors tracking the next phase of global military spending, the competitive edge is increasingly shifting from individual weapons platforms to artificial intelligence that can connect sensors, weapons and command systems across multiple domains. Hanwha Group is positioning AI at the center of that strategy, while simultaneously expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint.
Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn said September 22 that Hanwha Systems should develop defense AI capabilities that competitors cannot easily replicate, during a visit to the company’s Gumi facility in South Korea.
Kim’s visit comes as Hanwha accelerates its expansion in the U.S. defense industrial base. Hanwha Defense USA announced September 22 plans to invest $2.2 billion in an advanced munitions manufacturing campus at the U.S. Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, with the project expected to create nearly 400 jobs over seven years. The facility is planned to produce 155mm artillery propellant charges and base-bleed units.
The combination of U.S. manufacturing investment and AI development highlights a broader shift in Hanwha’s defense strategy: building production capacity in allied markets while developing the digital systems that can integrate increasingly complex weapons networks.
At the Gumi site, Kim inspected production and testing of the multifunction radar used in the Chunung-II missile-defense system and reviewed an AI-based integrated air-defense system under development by Hanwha Systems. He also examined testing capabilities for the Chunung multifunction radar and the active electronically scanned array radar used on South Korea’s KF-21 fighter jet.
Hanwha Systems’ Gumi operation has become a major production and technology hub for radar, electro-optical systems and naval combat systems. The company completed a new facility covering about 958,000 square feet, more than twice the size of its previous site, with an approximately 50,000-square-foot clean room, according to the company.
Kim described Hanwha Systems as the group’s “brain and neural network,” reflecting the company’s role in connecting defense assets produced by Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Ocean through command-and-control systems.
“AI is the key to determining the competitiveness of Hanwha Group’s defense business,” Kim said, urging Hanwha Systems to strengthen its position at the center of the group’s AI and systems-integration capabilities.
The strategy extends beyond conventional weapons. Hanwha Systems is developing AI-enabled intelligent sensors, command-and-control systems and manned-unmanned teaming technologies aimed at future battlefields. The company also recently unveiled a space AI solution in Poland that combines electro-optical and synthetic-aperture radar satellite imagery for real-time intelligence analysis.
For U.S. defense investors, Hanwha’s strategy also reflects a growing emphasis on industrial capacity as part of national security. The company has been expanding its American presence through manufacturing, shipbuilding and defense partnerships, including its planned Pine Bluff facility. The U.S. Army has also been working with Hanwha to expand domestic production capacity and localize parts of its defense supply chain.
Kim also emphasized workplace safety during his Gumi visit, saying safety should remain a basic condition for future growth.
Hanwha Systems operates across radar and electro-optical surveillance, command and control, communications, avionics, naval combat systems and satellites. Its growing focus on AI suggests that Hanwha is seeking to compete not only as a supplier of individual weapons, but as an integrator capable of linking sensors, platforms and decision-making systems across land, sea, air and space.
The shift could become increasingly important as defense customers in the U.S. and allied markets seek systems that can combine large volumes of battlefield data with faster decision-making and coordinated operations.
