Visitors tour the pavilion for Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Hyundai Rotem, during Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2025 in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Oct. 20, 2025. Courtesy of Hyundai Rotem.
Hyundai Rotem, the defense and rail subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, aims to mass-produce hypersonic missiles by 2035 in cooperation with the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD) — weapons widely regarded as a key element of modern warfare.
The plan reflects South Korea’s broader push to secure advanced strike capabilities as neighboring countries develop or already operate hypersonic weapons that are difficult for existing missile defense systems to intercept.
With speeds faster than Mach 5, or about 6,120 kilometers per hour, hypersonic missiles are capable of striking targets worldwide within hours. Their extreme speed and maneuverability make them difficult for existing missile defense systems to intercept. The United States, Russia and China currently operate hypersonic missiles, while several other countries, including North Korea, India and France, are developing their own capabilities.
According to defense industry sources, Sunday, Hyundai Rotem and ADD recently acquired a key early-stage technology for stable propulsion in hypersonic vehicles. The system allows missiles to sustain combustion by drawing in external oxygen in the upper atmosphere while maneuvering at high speeds.
That system, known as HyCore, has been under development by Hyundai Rotem and ADD since 2018 as a flight vehicle intended to form the basis of a hypersonic missile. During a 2024 test launch, HyCore exceeded Mach 6 — roughly 7,340 kilometers per hour — at an altitude of 23 kilometers.
Hyundai Rotem has entered an advanced research and development phase based on data from the test flight, with internal assessments indicating that it could establish full-scale missile production by 2035 if current technological progress continues.
Experts say deploying hypersonic missiles would significantly strengthen South Korea’s deterrence against North Korea and beyond.
“Such weapons would allow South Korea to strike key North Korean facilities very quickly and efficiently,” said Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
“South Korea has already secured significant strike capabilities against North Korea through the Hyunmoo missile series, but developing hypersonic missiles is necessary to strengthen those capabilities further,” said Yang, referring to the weapon that serves as the core of the South’s deterrence strategy against North Korean threats and encompasses both ballistic and cruise missile technologies. “Advancing hypersonic weapons is also necessary to broaden deterrence beyond North Korea.”
Source: Korea Times News
