1: Conducted approxi. 50 test flights for about 50 days, finishing the test about 121 items in total in a low-temperature condition
2: Demonstrated excellence of the homegrown airplane, targeting export of over 300 planes
KUH-1(Surion) the first Korean Utility Helicopter finished the low-temperature test flight in Alaska."
With the aim of verifying the low-temperature operation ability of the Surion at minus 32 degrees Celsius in the real condition, the test flight was conducted about 130 items in total on about 50 occasions.
Before the test this time, the Surion had been tested in indoor environment on total 3 occasions and demonstrated its operation ability until up to 32 degrees C below zero. However, its test flight in the real environment had been only conducted in the up to minus 23 degrees C condition due to the restraints of the domestic weather. The Surion is the firs time to test and verify the homegrown copter abroad.
"Exposing to the condition for more than 12 hours at minus 40 degrees C, we tested the low-temperature operation ability of Surion in the real environment, including other abilities and verified the superiority of the copter sufficiently," said an official at DAPA.
In order to conduct the test flights of the Surion, the 30-strong test team, composed of the KUH Business Team at DAPA, KAI, or Korea Aerospace Industries, Inc., Airworthiness Certification Department in the Headquarters of the Army, and officials at the Agency for Defense Development had to spend the year-end holidays including the Christmas overseas, away from their families, enduring the freeze in Alaska.
Disassembling the Surion in Korea around Dec. 20 last year and transporting the fuselage and the parts with them on board a Russian transport plane to Fairbanks, Russia on Dec. 24, the test team reassembled them there and conducted the test fights of the Surion for about 50 days until 7th Feb this year.
An official at KAI told, "we had much difficulty in proceeding with test flights due to the abnormally high temperatures there in Alaska. Running a risk, we looked for the backwoods which met the weather conditions and where even local people were reluctant to visit and conducted those test flights."
"We are delighted that even some doubts over the performances of the Surion raised till now were clearly removed," said KAI, "with the verified performances and safety, the Surion will be positioned as a prestigious copter in the global market."
In order to effectively overseas export activities, KAI plans to establish KAI-EC, a joint venture with Eurocopter and export more than 300 planes for the upcoming 15 years by briskly marketing the planes.
Through the project of remodelling and developing the Surion-based diverse subsequent helicopter, the DAPA has plans to produce the optimum helicopters suitable for the operation demands of the Korean military and replace the copters which the military currently imports and operates with the homegrown ones.
The local copters for official use which entirely rely on imports thus far, including Korea Coast Guard, The National Emergency Management Agency and Korea Forest Service are also expected to be replaced with the homegrown ones. In 2011, KAI signed a contract with The Korean National Police Agency to provide the of Surion copters. The copters for pubic use, operated by the government agencies in Korea reaches roughly 100 and the demand market for the Surion-class copters amounts to over 2 trillion won for the upcoming 20 years.
The Surion is the first homegrown helicopter which the Korean military started to develope in 2006 with the aim of replacing the old and superannuated helicopters which they currently operates and nurturing the local helicopter industry. Under the support of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and DAPA, KAI set out for developing the Surion and finished making its maiden flight in 2010. In June last year, the Surion was certified as a copter suitable for combat.