Hanwha Aerospace signed a contract with GA-ASI during AUSA 2025 to jointly develop the Gray Eagle Short Takeoff and Landing (GE-STOL) UAS.
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Press Release, Seoul, 14 October 2025: Hanwha Aerospace signed a contract with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) during AUSA 2025 to jointly develop the Gray Eagle Short Takeoff and Landing (GE-STOL) unmanned aircraft system.
The agreement marks the beginning of a co-development and co-production partnership between the two aerospace companies in South Korea and the United States to deliver next-generation, runway-independent UAV solutions. The contract was signed by Sun Kim, Senior Executive Vice President of Hanwha Aerospace, and Dave Alexander, President of GA ASI during a ceremony on the second day of the AUSA exhibition. Under the contract, both companies will design and build a GE STOL demonstrator aircraft, targeting a maiden flight in 2027 and initial customer deliveries in 2028.
With the GA-ASI–funded prototype already in flight testing, the partnership is expected to provide the fastest and lowest-risk path to operational capability. Hanwha will supply key components for the UAS — including engines, landing gear, fuel systems, avionics, and mission equipment — while establishing a domestic production facility in South Korea for final assembly and manufacturing of the GE-STOL, with GA-ASI responsible for final system integration.
“GA-ASI and Hanwha are committed to investing in this project and building development and production capabilities in South Korea,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “We’ll be leveraging the expertise of both companies to quickly bring the Gray Eagle STOL to global customers.”
This collaboration forms part of Hanwha’s broader investment strategy in the unmanned aerial vehicle sector, aimed at enhancing its ability to produce and deliver next-generation UAS solutions with greater cost efficiency and reduced development risk, both in South Korea and abroad.
“Co-producing GE STOL in South Korea and the US will create jobs and help Hanwha secure talent in related fields as well as foster our domestic (Korean) UAS industry ecosystem,” said Jae-il Son, President and CEO of Hanwha Aerospace. “Hanwha is poised to become a comprehensive UAS company capable of executing everything from design to production and maintenance based on our capabilities, which span from fighter jet engines to radar and avionics equipment.”
Gray Eagle STOL is the only medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS in its class to offer true runway independence by operating from semi-improved surfaces, including dirt roads, open fields, beaches, and parking lots. This exponentially increases its operational employment by providing multi-mission capability for Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA), counter UAS, and other missions including Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) while leveraging GE STOL’s modular open systems approach.
In November 2024, Hanwha and GA-ASI successfully flew the GE STOL demonstrator, called Mojave, from the South Korean Navy’s amphibious landing ship ROKS Dokdo (LPH-6111) near the sea off the coast of Pohang. It has also been launched and recovered aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (2023), performed live-fire testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona (2024), and performed dirt strip operations (2023) underscoring GA-ASI’s advances in runway independence and operational flexibility.
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