36 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/MARCH 30-APRIL 12, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awstBradley Perrett Beijing
and Tony Osborne LondonSecond Life
A helicopter that Airbus looked
likely to phase out will be the
basis of a South Korean program
K
orea Aerospace Industries
(KAI) has chosen the Airbus
Helicopters H155 as the basis
for LCH-LAH civil and military rotor-
craft, adding South Korean production
of more than 200 units to a program
the European manufacturer is replac-
ing. The H155, formerly the EC155 B1,
beat the AgustaWestland AW169, the
other shortlisted type.
The South Korean program is in-
tended to develop the Light Civil Heli-
copter (LCH) for entry into service in
2020, and the derivative Light Armed
Helicopter (LAH), which would be-
come operational with the South Ko-
rean army in 2022. The army needs at
least 200 LAHs. South Korea targeted
a 4.5-metric-ton (10,000-lb.) aircraft,
but the H155 is heavier, at 4.9 tons.
Airbus has previously supported
KAI in developing the Surion utility he-
licopter. It has now agreed to transfer
technology for the LCH-LAH, which,
like the Surion, is to be built in South
Korea.
“By continuing our relationship, we
will significantly reduce the risks of
these two new development programs,
while meeting all of the mission re-
quirements,” says Airbus Helicopters
President Guillaume Faury.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition
Program Agency (DAPA) chose KAI
last year as the preferred bidder for
LCH-LAH. However, competition
from Korean Air Lines forced KAI to
bid quite low to secure the deal, South
Korean industry ofcials say. The next
step for the program should be for KAI
to sign a contract with DAPA and the
industry ministry covering at least de-
velopment of the type. Development
will require more than 1 trillion won
($890 million) in South Korean invest-
ment, says KAI.
In winning this program, Airbus has
secured a second life for a product that
it otherwise looked likely to phase out.
The 5.5-6-ton H160, now under devel-
opment, should succeed the H155, alate-1990s helicopter based on the
AS365 Dauphin of the 1970s. Among
the diferences, the H155 has a wider
cabin. The type has not been a great
commercial success, with only about
180 sold in the 18 years since its first
flight.
Consistent with a product near the
end of its life, Airbus has reportedly
offered to transfer H155 production
to South Korea. It would cease H155
manufacturing in France.
Although the H155 has appeared
to need more of a development efort
than the AW169, which is still in flight
testing, Airbus should have been able
to offer some advantages in produc-
tion cost. Fabrication machinery is al-
ready available, and the type must now
be well down the learning curve, with
production managers having worked
out the most economical methods of
building it.
Sikorsky considered but decided
against submitting a bid based on its
S-76D, that company says.
Airbus says the LCH-LAH will be-
come the “leading next-generation
light rotorcraft in the 5-metric-ton
weight category.” It is not clear how.
The company has previously said that
South Korea’s schedule leaves insuf-
cient time for major modifications to
the H155 airframe, although the budget
is enough to pay for them. Two other
industry ofcials familiar with the pro-
gram say the target date for the LCH’s
entry into service is too near for de-
veloping a new helicopter or improv-
ing an established one sufciently for
long-term competitiveness. And with
the H155 the LCH is not starting with
a roaringly successful base type.
The two-engine H155 is not abun-
dantly powered, as a battlefield heli-
copter should be. That raises the pos-sibility of fitting a newer and larger
turboshaft to replace the Turbomeca
Arriel 2C2—if there is time. One can-
didate could be Turbomeca Ardiden,
which will power the Chinese version
of the H175, the AC352.
There has never been an armed
version of the EC155, which was tar-
geted at VIP, corporate and ofshore
oil-and-gas support markets. Airbus’s
drawing of the LAH shows modifica-
tions for weapons carriage, including
stub wings carrying rocket pods. The
landing gear will be lengthened to ac-
commodate a gun under the nose. Also
notable above the cockpit is the Sagem
Strix sight, like that fitted to the Tiger
attack helicopter. That will be needed
for firing of precision-guided rockets
from the pods.
The LCH-LAH program has been un-
derway for more than 10 years. In the
first half of last decade, it was part of
a massive proposal for 477 rotorcraft
called the Korean Multirole Helicopter.
The difficulty or impossibility of one
type afordably covering all of the ar-
my’s requirements resulted in an initial
go-ahead for the 8.7-ton Korean Utility
Helicopter, later called Surion.
That left the army still needing
a light attack helicopter, which was
then called the Korean Attack Heli-
copter. For a time it was envisaged as
a dedicated attack machine with a slim
fuselage accommodating two crew-
members in tandem. But in 2010, the
industry ministry, now participating in
the program, insisted that the helicop-
ter have a passenger cabin so it could
also serve as a civil product. By 2013,
the civil side of the program seemed to
be in the driver’s seat, with the military
version slated to go into service second
and its classification downgraded from
attack to armed helicopter. cDEFENSEThe KAI Airbus Light Armed Helicopter will follow the
Light Commercial Helicopter into service by two years.AIRBUS HELICOPTERS