Korea's Helicopter Project Picks Up Speed

Together with the MKE and DAPA, KOTRA held a session on Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' policies on the purchase of helicopter parts

Helicopters developed with Korea's own technology will take wing before too long. The government is accelerating a project to replace some of the Air Force's aging helicopters with Korean-made ones, dubbed the Korean Helicopter Program (KHP).
The project, jointly launched by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) in 2005, calls for the production of six prototype helicopters by 2012 with the annual addition of 30 units thereafter for a total of 245 units. Three developers under the umbrella of the KHP Business Corps ― the Agency for Defense Development, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, and Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (KAI) ― are participating in the project with 17 Korean subcontractors and 11 foreign companies, said Lee Jae-hong, director of the Machinery, Aerospace & Defense Industries Division at the MKE.
An event designed to put the finishing touches on the assembling of the fuselage of the Korean helicopter was held at KAI's Changwon plant on Jan. 6.
In an effort to promote the development of the Korean defense industry, in cooperation with the MKE and DAPA, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) organized a session on Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS)'s policies on the purchase of helicopter parts and candidate parts at a KOTRA conference room on March 3. The session involved one-on-one business consultations and an observation tour by the participants to Korean parts makers in Sacheon and Changwon.
Eight delegates from Boeing IDS with positions in purchasing and engineering were dispatched for the event, the first of its kind held in Korea.
Thirty-nine Korean companies, including Dawin Friction, Samyang Composite Technology, KAES, Doosan Mottrol and Withus as well as KHP business partners participated in the event.
A Boeing official said Korea has laid a sound foundation in the aircraft parts industry, and the nation has been recognized for its technological power in such parts areas as gauges and valves, fuselage parts and aircraft electronic parts. The session would give Boeing an opportunity to have a long-term partnership with excellent Korean partners, he added.
KOTRA President Cho Hwan-eik said Korea is aggressively reacting to the global aircraft makers' outsourcing strategies, and the event was designed to expedite exports of Korean-made helicopter parts through collaboration between Korean and U.S. companies in the global helicopter market whose value is forecast to rise from $33.5 billion in 2007 to $40.8 billion in 2016. More world-class helicopter makers will continue to be invited under a global aerospace partnering program one by one within this year, he added.
Yoon Yeong-seon, general manager of DAPA's KHP Business Corps, said Korea will have a demand for of at least 600 helicopters for military and civilian use that comes every two or three decades, and it is essential for Korea to have full-fledged collaboration with world-class partners for their joint entry into the global helicopter market in order to promote the development of the Korean industry. nw

(left) KOTRA President Cho Hwan-eik and KOTRA organizes a session on Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' policies on the purchase of helicopter parts on March 3 in Seoul.