Korea Aerospace Industries Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as KAI) signed a contract with the Public Procurement Service for two whitesuri units (units 4 to 5) for KRW 49.7 billion on the 9th. Delivery is expected by July 2024.

The white suri (KUH-1CG) is a helicopter that has been developed and modified to be suitable for carrying out maritime police missions such as maritime terrorism, maritime crime crackdown, and search and rescue based on the domestic helicopter Surion.

It is equipped with a search radar for detecting marine targets, an electro-optical infrared camera, a hoist, and a searchlight, enabling real-time on-site confirmation and day and night search and rescue. In particular, it is expected that the new search radar (Osprey 30) will be added to the contract to detect up to 1,000 targets at the same time, further strengthening the policing and accident prevention mission capability.

The Korea Coast Guard purchased two White Eagles in 2016 and one in 2018 and are operating them at Jeju, Yangyang, and Busan Aviation University, and purchased a total of five including this contract.

In particular, the Whitesuri 1 deployed in Jeju has been active in proving its stable operation performance in Jeju, where there are many strong winds, such as the dramatic rescue of five sailors who were isolated on the rocks of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak in February.

KAI plans to further expand the domestic service helicopter market by increasing the mission operation rate and customer satisfaction based on its prompt technical support and smooth follow-up support capabilities.

As technical personnel for each system are stationed at six operating bases in Korea, after-sales service and regular support by region are possible.

A KAI official emphasized, “We will manufacture and deliver a helicopter of perfect quality so that the maritime police can perform their duties smoothly.”

Of the 120 official helicopters in operation in Korea, 20 are the Coast Guard helicopters. Of these, more than 40% are obsolete models that have been introduced for more than 20 years, and continuous replacement of aging helicopters is necessary for safe maritime missions.

So far, the number of domestic helicopters that government agencies have contracted to purchase is 20, including 5 coast guard helicopters, 10 police helicopters, 4 firefighting helicopters, and 1 forest helicopter.