By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter


South Korea has chosen Eurocopter, a consortium from France and Germany, to co-develop and produce 245 advanced military helicopters over 20 years under a multi-billion-dollar procurement project, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The decision was made at the ministry’s procurement deliberation committee on Monday, said Park Sung-gook, head of the ministry’s task force on the Korean Helicopter Program (KHP).

``Eurocopter has promised us a wide technology transfer for the technical platform for the helicopter development,’’ said Park, adding the ministry plans to sign a contract with the consortium on the research and development of the KHP first and later determine the mass production.

Eurocopter will develop 20 percent of the project, while South Korean companies, including the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), will have 60 percent of the development project and other foreign firms will develop the remaining 20 percent, he said.

The development deal, estimated at some $1.3 billion (1.3 trillion won), marks the first contract that South Korea, which has been largely dependent on the alliance with the United States, has granted a non-U.S. company in its military procurement projects.

Eurocopter, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company (EADS), competed for the KHP with Bell Helicopter of the U.S. and Agusta Westland, a joint venture aeronautics company of Britain and Italy.

Under the KHP, the ministry plans to deploy 245 advanced troop-carrying helicopters, including 231 for the Army, in the field beginning in 2012 after developing six prototypes by December 2011, Park said.

The project is part of the ministry’s mid- to long-term arms acquisition plan to replace the Army’s aging helicopter fleet of UH-1H and 500MD helicopters toward building a ``self-reliant’’defense capability.

About $8.6 billion will set aside for the research and development, and management of the sophisticated military aircraft over the next 40 years, he said. A KHP helicopter costs about $15 million.

The KHP helicopter is capable of carrying 13 soldiers and is equipped with high-tech weapons systems, including two sets of 7.62-milimeter machine guns and a ``friend-or-foe’’ identification system. It is able to fly at a maximum speed of 240 kilometers and stay in the air for about two hours.

The Eurocopter group was established in 1992 from the merger between the helicopter divisions of Aerospatiale-matra of France and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany.

gallantjung@hotmail.com