On Monday 19 January Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) successfully completed the first test flight of the KUH-1M, the amphibious version of the Korean Utility Helicopter Surion. The KUH-1M is in development for the Republic of Korea Marine Corps.
NLR already contributed to the development of the Surion, by wind tunnel testing in various facilities. Now, KAI and NLR work together In the KUH-1M Helicopter-Ship Qualification project to obtain Ship Helicopter Operational Limitations (SHOLs) for flight operations with the KAI KUH-1M on board two classes of ships of the Republic of Korea Navy. The optimized NLR helicopter-ship qualification method is applied providing a very cost effective approach to obtain the required qualification documents of the KUH-1M.
NLR is a partner with KAI in the execution of wind tunnel tests and planning and execution of low speed flight trials. Finally, NLR and KAI will execute the flight trials on board two ships of the Republic of Korea Navy.
The KUH-1M is scheduled for shipboard operation tests mid-2015.
Photos: courtesy of Korea Aerospace Industries
