Honeywell Eyes Expanding APAC Defense Market

Honeywell Aerospace Technologies sees the Singapore Airshow as an opportunity to highlight its expanding role as a behind-the-scenes technology provider for civil and military aviation programs across the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on autonomous systems, counter-drone capabilities, and resilient connectivity solutions.

The U.S. company, whose products are ubiquitous across all aerospace sectors, generates more than $17 billion annually in revenue from its aerospace business, with roughly 60% tied to commercial programs and the remainder to defense and space. Its international defense business now exceeds $2 billion, and customers in the Asia-Pacific region account for nearly one-third of that total, according to Matt Milas, president of defense and space at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies.

Japan, South Korea, and Australia are driving much of the recent growth as regional defense budgets rise and indigenous industrial capabilities expand, Milas told AIN. “We’ve been seeing a lot of the international interest picking up, especially in the APAC region,” he said. “New OEMs are emerging, and there’s more of a desire for indigenous capability both for production and sustainment of defense assets, so we are working closely with each of the countries and their industrial partners to help them develop new programs and platforms, insert our technology into them, or help create sustainment capabilities.”

At the Singapore Airshow this week, Honeywell is showcasing technologies it developed for various civil and defense applications, including major air warfare platforms such as the multinational Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae multirole fighter, and the Turkish TF Kaan stealth fighter.

Among the innovations Honeywell is promoting is its system-agnostic approach to counter-UAS operations, which aims to minimize collateral damage. Honeywell’s counter-UAS approach leverages electronic warfare tools such as electronic jamming and radiofrequency takeover, as well as drone-on-drone interception, “so that you don’t have the drones you’re trying to take out causing unexpected damage to buildings or people,” Milas explained. 

In September, Honeywell announced that it had successfully completed U.S. military demonstrations of its Stationary and Mobile UAS Reveal and Intercept (“Samurai”) system, a modular counter-drone platform it developed for moving ground vehicles in contested environments. Honeywell conceived the Samurai system by integrating detectors, sensors, and other components from defense manufacturers, including Blue Halo, Leonardo DRS, Pierce Aerospace, Silent Sentinel, Walaris, Rocky Research, and Versatol.

Autonomy is another major theme of Honeywell’s presence at the show this year. Honeywell is adapting technologies originally developed for advanced air mobility and eVTOL aircraft—where size, weight, and power constraints are critical—for use in military drones. These include compact fly-by-wire systems, electromechanical actuators, and high-capacity thermal management hardware designed to keep avionics and mission systems cool on smaller platforms such as collaborative combat aircraft and other drones.

Connectivity and navigation technologies also feature prominently at Honeywell’s chalet. The company is showcasing its VersaWave system, a satcom solution for uncrewed aircraft that’s intended to support beyond-line-of-sight operations and higher data throughput, even in GPS-denied or actively jammed environments. Lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, where GPS jamming and spoofing are common, informed the company’s efforts to fortify navcom systems against electronic attacks, Milas said.

Also on display at Honeywell’s chalet is the company’s next-generation cabin connectivity service, JetWave X, configured to connect to the new ViaSat-3 broadband satellite network that is expected to become operational this year. 

Beyond individual products, Honeywell is pitching its broader value proposition to regional operators and manufacturers: commercial-derived technologies that can be adapted quickly for defense use, lowering development costs and accelerating timelines. As Southeast Asian nations invest in new platforms and sustainment capabilities, the company sees opportunities to support both emerging OEMs and existing fleets throughout the region.