A business lobby group projects that if South Korea reaches the government goal of becoming the world's fourth largest defense exporter by 2027, related sales and employment will be double that of the 2021 figures.

The Federation of Korean Industries issued the projection in a report released on Monday that was written by a researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

According to the report, a move to fourth from the current ninth place in defense exports within four years would expand the country’s sales to 29-point-seven trillion won, an 86-point-eight-percent increase from the 15-point-nine trillion won recorded in 2021.

Related jobs, excluding tertiary effects in other sectors, will more than double from 33-thousand to 69-thousand.

The report said the nation’s defense shipments have been rising sharply since the export of K2 tanks, K9 howitzers and FA-50 combat aircraft to Poland last year and that prospects remain bright.

South Korea's defense industry orders rose from three billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to seven-point-three billion the following year before jumping to 17-point-three billion dollars last year, marking a near-sixfold increase in two years.