Babcock and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) will jointly pursue training opportunities in Europe, under the terms of a newly signed memorandum of understanding.

Announced on 29 November, the pact will see the companies “explore military flying training, air base support and engineering opportunities targeted in central, eastern and southern Europe”.

“This partnership brings together a combination of military aviation experience that is able to support air power requirements in today’s changing environment, enabling air forces to deliver on their core mission and maintain sovereign capabilities,” Babcock says.

Polish air force FA-50

Source: Korea Aerospace Industries

KAI has so far delivered 12 of 48 FA-50 light-attack aircraft to Poland

“By leveraging KAI’s extensive technical expertise and our military flying training experience, we have the opportunity to position ourselves as an aviation capability partner in international defence markets,” says Mark Goldsack, the company’s managing director of business growth.

KAI currently counts Turkey as an operator of its KT-1T primary trainer, with the nation’s air force having 39 examples in its inventory.

Poland, meanwhile, is the only current European operator of KAI’s FA-50 light-attack aircraft, with a total of 48 examples on order. FlightGlobal’s newly published 2025 World Air Forces directory shows the Polish air force has so far fielded 12 of the type, in an interim GF-model standard.