The Ministry of National Defense has begun work toward establishing a defense AI data center to integrate artificial intelligence computing resources dispersed across the Army, Navy, Air Force and individual agencies. The aim is to establish shared infrastructure to support the defense sector's AI transformation, or AX, and provide a foundation for future AI applications in next-generation command-and-control systems.
The ministry recently released preliminary specifications for a project to formulate an information strategy plan, or ISP, for establishing the defense AI data center. It plans to complete the ISP in the second half of 2027.
A ministry official emphasized: “The defense AI data center is a project to establish core infrastructure providing the AI computing resources, foundations for using defense data, and environments for developing and operating AI models needed to advance defense AX.”
Infrastructure planning and integration
The ISP project is a preliminary design study to define the scale of infrastructure required for defense AX and how the center would be established. It will analyze AI demand across the services and agencies, examine the scope of infrastructure integration and the center's location, and draw up the total project cost and annual investment plans. This process will establish the basis needed to secure funding and issue contracts for the subsequent full-scale construction project.
Integrating currently dispersed AI infrastructure is central to the ministry's concept for the defense AI data center. It is considering security and network-separation requirements as it develops a proposal to organize large-scale graphics processing unit, or GPU, capacity into integrated cloud-based resources and allocate computing capacity flexibly across networks according to demand. The intention is to reduce the burden on individual agencies of securing their own infrastructure.
Currently, the defense network, internet network, battlefield network, weapons-system research and development network, and standalone networks operate their own data centers and AI infrastructure according to their purposes and security levels.
Data access and AI development
A foundation for using data will also be established. A defense AI data hub will collect and store data dispersed across the services and agencies and manage its quality. Another major task is to connect secure zones, where nonpublic and classified data can be used in a secure environment, with civilian defense AX hubs, establishing an environment for providing data for civil-military AI development and an environment for developing defense-specific AI.
The significance of this ISP is that it moves beyond the earlier project to acquire and demonstrate GPUs for the defense AI data center to the stage of preparing an integrated plan for AI infrastructure across the defense sector. The ministry is currently accelerating defense AX through initiatives including the establishment of the defense AI data center, the introduction of a defense generative AI foundation, and the development of an intelligent defense platform. See this newspaper's March 31 edition, page 1; July 10 edition, page 7; and July 21 edition, page 10.
Support for command-and-control systems
In the longer term, the infrastructure is also expected to support AI applications in next-generation command-and-control systems, including the Korea Command and Control System, or KCCS. Implementing AI-based situational analysis and command decision support requires not only large-scale computing resources but also a foundation for collecting and standardizing data dispersed across the services so it can be used for training.
A ministry official said: “The defense AI data center to be established in the future will serve as a training environment for large-scale, defense-specific AI models, including vision-language models, or VLMs, and physical AI. It is intended to support the development and demonstration of AI services across all defense functions, including command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, and education and training, and to serve as a hub integrating and connecting infrastructure dispersed across the services.”
Original Korean article: ETNews
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
