South Korea's flagship weapons — the K2 tank, the K9 self-propelled howitzer and the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher — could enter NATO's joint procurement market faster, following the launch of formal talks on a basic procurement agreement between Seoul and the alliance.
President Lee Jae-myung and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met in Turkey last July and formalized the start of negotiations on the agreement. The move aims to build an institutional foundation for Korean firms to enter NATO's joint procurement market, estimated at 15 trillion won ($11 billion), by going beyond selling finished products to individual member states to joining the alliance's procurement, maintenance and parts supply chains. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is moving quickly, including by requesting access to NATO's "standards data."
DAPA recently held the second Korea-NATO defense industry council meeting with NATO at the Gwacheon government complex, industry sources said. At the meeting — the first in eight months since the initial session last September — the Korean side requested access to NATO's standards data to achieve the interoperability the alliance prioritizes. Seoul asked that the data be shared so that Korean-made weapons systems can operate in line with these standards.
DAPA plans to acquire NATO's standards framework to expand Korea's defense export structure from individual country contracts toward the operating systems of the NATO allied forces. Through this, it intends to elevate Korean-made weapons into platforms that can be used immediately within the NATO allied system. NATO member states conduct joint operations based on the same specifications and data systems.
NATO also asked Korea to take part in multilateral cooperation projects, such as those in the ammunition and space sectors that member states are pursuing, and both sides discussed defense cooperation measures with an active stance, according to sources. The meeting was co-chaired by DAPA's director-general for international cooperation and NATO's director of defense innovation and armament, who discussed measures for military and defense industry cooperation.
The defense industry expects that securing NATO's standards data would significantly lower barriers to entering the European defense market.
Expanding From Individual Country Contracts to the NATO Allied Operating System
Since the Russia-Ukraine war, NATO has begun large-scale rearmament and supply chain diversification after exposing ammunition shortages and production capacity limits. In this process, Korea's defense industry — with mass-production capacity for the K2 tank, the K9 self-propelled howitzer, the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher and 155mm shells — is emerging rapidly as a key part of the supply chain.
Above all, observers say that if Korea acquires NATO's standards data, its weapons export competitiveness in European countries' defense-buildup programs could strengthen further. Compatibility with the NATO standards framework would broaden the scope of participation to include NATO joint operations as well as maintenance systems, strengthening Korea's competitiveness and standing in the European defense market.
According to the defense industry, on the matter of acquiring NATO standards data requested by DAPA, an official body within NATO recently formed a consensus on defense cooperation with Korea and conveyed a positive stance to the government that it could accept the Korean side's request. As a result, DAPA is expected to soon set up a system through which the defense industry can acquire NATO standards data.
Going a step further, DAPA is accelerating efforts to identify and improve unnecessary administrative regulations that domestic firms have faced when entering the defense procurement markets of NATO countries.
For now, Korean firms have faced difficulties due to differences in how the NATO Commercial and Government Entity code (NCAGE code) — a five-digit code that NATO and others assign to identify producers and suppliers — is issued.
This code is needed when domestic firms take part in bidding and procurement for military supplies in NATO countries, but it was previously issued only at the level of the entire company. As a result, firms operating production facilities such as plants in multiple locations found it difficult to properly provide accurate information about each facility to their contracting counterparts.
DAPA has revised the rules so that codes are assigned by production facility for firms operating multiple facilities, and it has also begun overhauling the related computer system, the Defense Standardization Integrated Information System.
"If DAPA obtains access to acquire NATO's standards data and achieves compatibility with the NATO standards framework, K-defense's weapons export competitiveness will strengthen further, the scope of participation will expand to include NATO joint operations as well as maintenance systems, and its standing in the European defense market can grow," a defense industry official said. "K-defense's entry into NATO's joint procurement market will become even faster."
