Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), the sole military aircraft manufacturer in the country, announced on Wednesday that it has signed a contract with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration for the second batch of the Republic of Korea Army’s light-armed helicopter (LAH). The Korea Economic Daily Global reported that the contract amount is a total of 1,405.3 billion won ($1.09 billion), equivalent to 50.4% of last year’s revenue. The second contract quantity is scheduled for delivery from the fourth quarter of 2025 to December 2028. KAI signed the initial mass-production contract for LAH at the end of last year, with a contract amount of 302 billion won ($233 million).
The KAI LAH (Light Armed Helicopter) is a compact twin-engine combat helicopter that is being developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The LAH has been developed from the Eurocopter EC155 following an agreement between the multinational manufacturer Airbus Helicopters and KAI made in 2015. It is capable of performing multiple mission roles including light attack, close air support, escort, and troop transport duties, replacing both the MD500 Defender and AH-1S Cobra helicopters of the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA). On 4 July 2019, the LAH conducted its maiden flight. The company has prompted several conceptual variants of the LAH, including an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a troop-transport Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) model.
LAH is capable of using multiple new armaments, has been furnished with survivability equipment, and has the ability to carry up to ten fully-equipped troops. The LAH has been designed to perform both attack and reconnaissance missions. The flight system include a 4-axis automatic flight control system (AFCS), while the dynamic systems are designed to minimise both noise and vibration. Crashworthy self-sealing fuel tanks are also fitted. The LAH has been equipped with various avionics and apparatus to support its operations; these include a nose-mounted electro-optic/infrared sensor package, an integrated target acquisition/designation system, and a self-protection/electronic warfare suite, which includes a radar warning receiver (RWR), laser warning receiver (LWR), missile warning receiver (MWR), and chaff/flare dispensers.
The LAH is armed with a single chin-mounted 20mm three-barreled turret gun and fitted with stub wings for carrying both 70 mm (2.8 in) non-guided rockets and air-to-ground anti-tank missiles. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Hanwha developed a new anti-tank missile, initially referred to as the TAipers (Tank Sniper) Light Armed Helicopter Air-to-Ground Missile (LAH-AGM), as the LAH’s primary weapon. Guided by a dual CCD TV and imaging infrared (IIR) seeker delivering a fire-and-forget capability as well as a fire, observe and update mode using a fiber-optic data-link, it provides an anti-armor capability up to 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away. Later renamed Chungum, the missile is 120 mm (4.7 in) in diameter, weighs 16 kg (35 lb), can fly at 200 m/s (720 km/h; 450 mph), and is equipped with a tandem shaped-charge warhead with impact or time delay fuses. The LAH can carry four Chungums, two on each side.
