Ministry of National Defense Begins Full-Scale Discussion on UH-60 Replacement Helicopter

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Ministry of National Defense is holding the second meeting of the task force (TF) to discuss alternatives for replacing the UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.

On the 28th, a military official stated, "At 5 p.m. today, the TF, led by Kim Yoon-seok, Director of the Defense Power Management Office, will discuss alternatives for the utility helicopter replacement."

This meeting, the second of its kind, is known to focus on the agenda of replacing the helicopter with the Korean utility helicopter, Surion.

Last month, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo co-chaired the 6th Defense Industry Development Council (hereafter referred to as the Council) at the Ministry of National Defense's main conference room in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The Council is an intergovernmental consultative body established to discover and promote related policies such as government-wide defense export support measures, localization of core materials, parts, and equipment for weapon systems, transfer of defense technology to the civilian sector, and transfer of civilian technology to defense. This was the second meeting since the Moon Jae-in administration launched the Defense Industry Promotion Meeting in September 2018, and it was convened to discuss export support measures ahead of the enforcement of the Defense Industry Development and Support Act (hereafter referred to as the Defense Industry Development Act) scheduled for February next year.

The agenda included four items: ▲ Development plans for the Defense Industry Development Council ▲ Activation plans for the Defense Material Trade Support Center ▲ Development plans for localization of defense parts ▲ Industrial ripple effects of the military helicopter performance improvement project.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy presented the expected industrial ripple effects if the UH-60 helicopter performance improvement project is replaced with a domestic model, and the Ministry of National Defense decided to establish a mid- to long-term development plan for medium utility helicopter forces by referring to the final research results from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

The military must decide whether to replace the currently used UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter with the Korean utility helicopter Surion or extend its lifespan through performance upgrades. The UH-60, produced under license domestically by Korean Air in the 1990s, is a helicopter used for various purposes such as small personnel transport and command. The military currently operates about 140 UH-60s.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which produces the Surion, explains that if the UH-60 is replaced with the Surion, existing Surion-related facilities can be utilized, and maintenance costs can be reduced by operating a single model. Within the military, claims that the Surion has limited passenger capacity and hoisting capability compared to the UH-60 are countered by stating that squad personnel have been reduced from 11 to 9 according to defense reform, making it sufficient to carry out operations. Additionally, it is anticipated that increasing the cargo hoisting capacity from the current 6,000 pounds to 7,000 pounds will adequately replace the UH-60 utility helicopter's missions.

In particular, compared to the UH-60, the Surion is equipped with enhanced ballistic protection, navigation capabilities, various survival equipment, and an autopilot flight control system, making its operational capability and survivability far superior. KAI claims that producing the Surion domestically will generate an industrial ripple effect of 5.6 trillion won and create 18,000 jobs.