Korean Air has entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with LIG Nex1 related to future upgrade work on South Korea’s fleet of Sikorsky UH/HH-60 helicopters.
The MoU between the Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD) and LIG Nex1 will see them work on ways they can improve the helicopter’s cockpit for special warfare operations.
In addition, they will look at how the platform’s “mission, navigation, and survival systems” can be improved.
KAL-ASD notes that it produced 138 UH/HH-60 helicopters under licence. For 30 years it has performed depot maintenance on the local UH/HH-60 fleet, and undertaken modification and avionics improvements for UH-60s operated by the South Korean and US militaries.
At the Seoul ADEX defence show in October 2024, Korean Air told FlightGlobal that it was working on an upgrade programme for over 30 UH-60Ps in South Korean army service, extending their service life to the 2040-2045 timeframe.
Cirium fleets data shows that the South Korean air force and army have 138 examples of UH-60-family helicopters. These include 118 UH-60Ps, 17 HH-60Ps, and three UH-60Ls. The average age of the fleet is 29.9 years.
The army is the largest operator, with 121 UH-60L/Ps serving as multi-role helicopters. The air force operates 17 HH-60s in the combat search and rescue mission, and eight UH-60Ps as VIP/head of state transports.
“Korean Air has progressively conducted partial enhancements of the UH-60 and HH-60 until now, [and] while the government has not made a public announcement regarding the UH-60 upgrade project for the Korean military, Korean Air is preparing to participate in this forthcoming opportunity,” says Korean Air of the LIG Nex1 MoU.
At the Farnborough air show in July, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Systems announced they would also work together on UH/HH-60 improvement work.
“The UH/HH-60 performance improvement project is a project to develop and mass-produce systems, including digitalisation and integration of avionics systems, for the purpose of improving the operational capabilities and continuous operation of special operation helicopters of the army and air force,” said KAI.
“The collaboration between KAI, the only aircraft developer in Korea, and Hanwha Systems, an avionics specialist, is expected to result in winning the bid and successfully carrying out the difficult UH/HH-60 performance improvement project.”
In May 2022, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration announced that it was launching a UH/HH-60 upgrade programme. It did not state the number of helicopters to be upgraded but gave the project value at W960 billion ($714 million).
