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Publish Date : 28-Jan-2016

The South Korean giant jet manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), on Monday has made an announcement on the successful completion of the first test flight of a new medical transfer type of its helicopter - Surion.

The company has disclosed that it has flown the new Surion helicopter from its Sacheon-based headquarters on Friday. The aircraft took its maiden flight for 20 minutes in the guidance of around 40 officials from the defense procurement agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army and the Armed Forces Medical Command, the KAI added.

According to the company, the new medical transporter will have to go through several other tests under different circumstances by the end of 2016 to ascertain its operability prior to its deployment slated for 2018.

The new chopper will be put to service as the medical transport vehicle of the military after two years.

In a statement, KAI revealed, "It is the first medical transport helicopter developed and adopted locally."

The aerospace firm has also disclosed that the new helicopter will be equipped with advanced medical transport vehicle capacities to carry out patient evacuation jobs and deliver first aid during wartime as well as in peacetime.

The new chopper will come with medical transport capacities to take charge of patient evacuation and first aid both during wartime and peacetime, the company added.

As part of a military procurement project worth 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion), the KAI has developed the KUH-1 Surion, the maiden South Korean indigenously built helicopter, in the year 2010 and the new medical transport helicopter is the latest variant of the Surion.

Apart from the operational police variant, the KAI has recently made another version for the Marine Corps.

The medical transport variant will have weather radar, a traffic collision avoidance system and detachable auxiliary fuel tanks to ensure capability to operate under harsh weather conditions or during hours of darkness, according to the KAI.

The company has revealed that the new medical version will be equipped with other emergency operational capabilities such as a respirator, oxygen pump and defibrillator will also be added.

The aerospace firm has also stated that it will deploy the new Surion helicopters to take the place of operational fleet of around 400 choppers in South Korea within the next two decades, while taking moves to export 600 units by the same period as well.

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