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| Korean Air KUS-FT UAV (Image: IHS - James Hardy) |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
Korean Air recently inked a deal with the Korean military procurement agency to mass-produce a new UAV.
This Sunday, the South Korean aircraft manufacturer, Korean Air Aerospace Division announced that it has signed a 400 billion won (US $ 333.5 million) deal with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) at the end of December last year to mass produce new reconnaissance drones, Yonhap news agency reports.
The new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), designated KUS-FT, will be produced from 2016 to 2020 with first deliveries expected in 2018. “Nearly 95 percent of the aircraft’s components were made by South Korean suppliers,” a Korean Air Aerospace Division official said. The drone was developed between 2010 and November 2014 for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as target acquisition missions.The KUS-FT is South Korea’s first indigenously-produced UAV to receive an air worthiness type certification.
According to Korean Air, the new UAV is capable of operating for 24 hours. Its main payload is an electro-optical sensor permitting a 10 kilometer observation range and it is also equipped with an automatic target tracking capability. The new drone is 4.2 meters (14.7 feet) wide and 3.4 meters long.
Read the full story at The Diplomat