Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Epic Games Korea on March 2 to develop a VR flight training system.
Through the agreement, KAI will develop a KF-21 Korean fighter jet VR flight training simulator using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5.
Epic Games' Unreal Engine is the world's most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool, used to create virtual worlds for games, architecture, movies, automotive, and more.
Unreal Engine is used in a variety of industries, including architecture, automotive, and film, and its high resolution and accuracy enable realistic, immersive, and high-quality flight imagery.
KAI is building a future metaverse training system model that combines XR, VR, and other 4th industrial revolution technologies based on its aircraft and training system development technologies.
The VR-type flight simulator developed by KAI is a training system that provides a hands-on piloting environment prior to the existing large-scale (full-flight class) flight simulator training, enabling large-scale joint training to maximize the effectiveness of pilot training. It is also expected to reduce training costs due to its miniaturization and low operation and maintenance costs.
Based on this, KAI's strategy is to increase the military's aviation power and expand the export market by securing differentiated competitiveness in the defense export market.
The Metaverse training system can be expanded to include helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, submarines, and fast landing craft in the future, and can also be spun off to industries that require high-risk high-tech equipment operators, such as the private and public sectors.
"KAI has been developing training system technology based on various data acquired while developing aircraft for the past 30 years," said an official from KAI. "We will grow the training system business not as a sub-business of aircraft, but as a future food industry based on the 4th industrial revolution technology."
"We are pleased to sign a business agreement with KAI, a representative company of the Korean aerospace industry," said an official from Epic Games Korea. "Together with Unreal Engine, we will actively support the development of a VR flight simulation platform to further strengthen the competitiveness of the Korean aerospace industry.
