AI interception system to be integrated into in-house counter-drone airframes, delivering an autonomous interception capability against drone swarms
Team built around ADD researchers behind the KT-1, T-50 and KF-21; 80% of employees are R&D personnel
Taking direct aim at the global C-UAS market, with the goal of becoming Korea’s first defense-sector unicorn
[August 13, 2026] Airbility (co-CEOs Jinmo Lee and Taekyu Ryu), a specialist in high-speed and intelligent electric aircraft, announced on the 13th that it has been selected for the Korea AeroSpace Administration’s 2026 Investment- and Loan-Linked Technology Development Program (Scale-up TIPS), policy-designated track (aerospace field). The selection brings up to KRW 3 billion in R&D funding over three years, which the company will use to integrate an AI interception system into its in-house developed counter-drone (C-UAS) airframes and address the high-threat posed by drone swarms.
The policy-designated track of Scale-up TIPS is a government R&D program in which the relevant ministry directly evaluates and recommends companies and projects from among SMEs and ventures whose technology and growth potential have already been validated by private investment. For the aerospace field, the program was run as an inter-agency collaboration: the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) handled evaluation and recommendation, while the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) took charge of eligibility verification and R&D support. Airbility’s project advanced on the recommendation of Samho Green Investment Co., Ltd., the program’s operating partner and an investor in Airbility — meaning the project cleared both the investment judgment of private capital and the technical evaluation of KASA.
The project is titled Development of a Flying Autonomous AI Interception System (Flying Physical AI) for Countering Drone Swarms. It uses the AB-U4 electric VTOL platform for rapid maneuver and broad mission coverage, and adds a Flying Physical AI stack integrating perception, decision, control and learning, together with dual electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) seekers, swarm cooperative flight, and automatic target reassignment.
The goal is for multiple aircraft to divide missions in real time, precisely detect and track targets, and respond autonomously to changing conditions mid-mission. Over the project period, Airbility will develop a launcher-mounted AB-U4L interception system, an onboard AI stack, multi-aircraft cooperative flight technology, and a learning pipeline that links simulation with live flight — through to integrated demonstration under realistic operating conditions.
Behind the selection is the commercialization pace Airbility has shown in under three years since its founding. Since being established in November 2023, the company has built out its electric aircraft lineup in sequence — the AB-U4, AB-U10 and AB-U60. The AB-U10 received a Winner award at the 2026 Red Dot Design Award this past July, the first time a Korean company has been recognized for an interceptor at the award. In overseas markets, the company has responded to demand on the strength of export eligibility free from ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) constraints, along with price competitiveness.
That pace rests on a team of researchers formerly with the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). ADD researchers with roughly 30 years spent developing Korean aircraft including the KT-1, T-50 and KF-21 work alongside engineers experienced in mobility electrification and productization at Hyundai Motor, LG Electronics and elsewhere. R&D personnel account for 80% of the workforce — combining defense aviation R&D capability and mobility-industry commercialization capability within a single company.
Pairing counter-drone airframes with AI interception systems is becoming a baseline requirement in the global market. Germany’s Quantum Systems, which combines AI software with electric VTOL unmanned aircraft, grew 2025 revenue roughly threefold year on year to about EUR 300 million (approx. KRW 480 billion), and last month raised about USD 1.2 billion (approx. KRW 1.8 trillion) at a valuation of roughly USD 8 billion (approx. KRW 12 trillion). Anduril of the United States, which leads the global C-UAS market, posted 2025 revenue of about USD 2.1 billion (approx. KRW 2.9 trillion). Airbility’s strategy is to enter this market on price, at roughly one-tenth the cost of Anduril.
The company also plans to accelerate its global expansion by extending its established eVTOL technology into a Physical AI platform for the defense sector. It will first target the market for protecting critical national infrastructure — nuclear power plants, airports, refineries and data centers — as well as military air defense, and pursue overseas markets in NATO’s Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in phases.
CEO Jinmo Lee said: “This Scale-up TIPS selection is an important turning point in extending the high-speed electric aircraft technology Airbility has accumulated into a Flying Physical AI system that answers real security needs. Beyond simply developing fast drones, we will build autonomous aerial systems in which multiple aircraft perceive, decide and cooperate on their own — creating new Korean competitiveness in counter-drone technology and growing it into a K-counter-drone solution that can compete in the global market.”
He added: “Through this project we will secure technology demonstration and mass-production readiness at the same time, and expand cooperation with major Korean defense companies and end-user agencies to become the country’s first unicorn in the defense sector.”
Separately, the government announced in February a support policy to foster 100 related startups by 2030 as “defense unicorns” — privately held companies valued at over KRW 1 trillion.