A South Korean legislator said that the South Korean weapons procurement agency plans to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter fleet flown by the army with the KUH-1 Surion general-purpose helicopter developed by Korea Aerospace Industries.

The representative of the main opposition party, the People Power Party, Han Ji ho, re evaluated the Defense Procurement Program Administration (DAPA) before its parliamentary review next week.

According to members of Congress, DAPA has decided to withdraw the retirement plan for 103 UH-60P helicopters, which cancelled the upgrade to the United StatesMedium range helicopterThe plan is that the aircraft has been flying for about 20 years.

Retired three-star Army General Han said, "The UH-60 upgrade plan was suddenly cancelled in May last year," citing a feasibility study conducted by the South Korean Defense Analysis Institute, which is funded by the government. On the contrary, the defense authorities have chosen to increase the production of Surion helicopters

According to this study, producing approximately 130 Surion Force helicopters will cost around 3.3 trillion Korean won (2.9 billion US dollars), which is more than five times the upgrade price of UH-60.

Compared to the UH-60 Black Hawk, the KUH-1 Surion has 84% flight time and 83% flight distance, "Han said. Surion can accommodate 9 soldiers, but UH-60 can carry 11 soldiers

Legislators say that despite the gap in performance and cost, DAPA still prioritizes the economic benefits of producing helicopters locally. He added, "DAPA ignored the results of reliable feasibility studies and only attempted to cancel the UH-60 upgrade program that has been ongoing for the past eight years since 2013

The twin engine KUH-1 was jointly developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Airbus Helicopters (formerly known as Eurocopter) in 2009 to replace the aging fleet of UH-1H and 500MD that had been in use for decades. According to the contract signed with DAPA, KAI plans to provide approximately 220 Surion units to the South Korean Army and Marine Corps by 2023. This houseaircraftThe manufacturer has also developed the Sulion's lightweight armament based on the Airbus H155helicopter(LAH).

The development of LAH and light civilian helicopters (LCH) is a parallel task. This South Korean company plans to develop 4.5 metric tons of LCH by 2021 and then convert it to LAH by 2023. KAI launched the LAH prototype in December 2019. The LAH is equipped with a 20mm Gatling turret under its nose. 70mm rockets were also installed on the planeMissileWarning system and laser/radar warning receiver. KAI plans to build approximately 200 LAHs to replace the Bell AH-1 Cobra and old MD500 helicopters piloted by the South Korean military.

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