Aviation Week & Space Technology - January 15, 2015

numbers of good quality tanks and self-
propelled guns. Export growth there
came sooner. And while naval and war-
plane sales are still focused on Asia,
Samsung Techwin last year received a
$300 million Polish order for 120 hulls
for self-propelled guns.
Also last year, Daewoo Shipbuilding
and Marine Engineering won an order
for six corvettes from Malaysia, which
has previously relied mostly on Euro-
pean shipbuilders.
A rising challenge for South Korean
weapons development, and therefore
exports, is the increasing cost of engi-
neering. South Korean engineers are no
longer inexpensive. But this is probably
an inevitable problem: As a country ad-
vances economically and its technology
improves, people are paid better.

And South Korea, unlike most

Western countries, is training plenty

of aerospace engineers—so many, ac-

cording to Cho, that half of them can-

not fi nd aerospace jobs on graduation.

The military aeronautics subsector

where South Korea has had the great-

est industrial opportunity has been ro-

torcraft, because its armed forces have

so many : 22 in the air force, 59 in the

navy and 464 in the army. Assuming an

average unit life of 25 years, the country

needs to buy about 22 military helicop-

ters a year, which could eventually be

the basis for an independent domestic

industry.

With that in mind, South Korea is

aiming at two helicopter production

lines that would fi ll the great majority

of domestic demand. KAI’s 8.7-metric-

ton (19,200-lb.) Surion entered service

in 2013 as a battlefi eld utility aircraft

and is adaptable to other uses. The

same company has been chosen to

build a helicopter of about 4.5 tons for

armed reconnaissance and civil sales

under the LCH-LAH program.

The industrial result of this domes-

tic demand looks a good deal less than

ideal, however. The Surion lacks civil

certification, so its export market is

limited to military and paramilitary

functions. Moreover, it faces stif com-

petition from new and forthcoming

aircraft from experienced manufac-

turers. And t here is neither time nor

money to build an all-new helicopter

for LCH-LAH. Instead, KAI will build

an adapted Airbus EC155 or Agus-

taWestland AW169. c

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JANUARY 15-FEBRUARY 1, 2015 49

the-clock in any geographic areas and
under any climate and meteorological
conditions.”
The aircraft can carry up to 140 mili-
tary personnel or 90 paratroopers and
transport cargo and equipment. It will

also be capable of parachuting cargo

and equipment.

The MTA will be capable of airlifting

up to 80% of all existing weapons and

military equipment.

This capacity is mainly determined

by three key features: the MTA’s design

dimensions, its cargo department’s size

and volume, and its power plant. The

size of the MTA’s airtight cargo compart-

ment’s cross section is identical to that

of the heavy Ilyushin Il-76MD military

transport aircraft, according to UAC.

The high thrust-to-weight ratio

ensures the MTA’s operability from

airfields in high mountains (i.e., an

altitude of up to 3,300 meters above

the sea-level) both from paved and

unpaved runways (capable to sus-

tain pressure up to 8 kg/cm2 (114 psi) ,

which allows its operations on more

than 90% of the Russian airfi elds). c

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