The South Korean air carrier Korean Air and the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus Helicopters have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the joint development of military drone helicopters for the Seoul army. In particular, these are reconnaissance aircraft to be assigned to the South Korean navy. At the moment there are no known details about the realization times and the following steps.
The agreement was made official by Korean Air's Aerospace Business Division Director, Jung-woo Park, and Airbus Helicopters CEO, Bruno Even. The two companies will pool their common experience: that of the Seoul-based company on unmanned aircraft and that of the European manufacturer on the VSR-700 program on helicopter drones for intelligence and surveillance services.
The agreement between the two partners comes just a few months after Korean Air's creation in June 2022 of a "research and development center for new generation stealth drones". Indeed, in August Seoul chose the European manufacturer as its "preferred bidder" to develop drones that can interact with aircraft during combat. A similar collaboration has been signed with Boeing, again to develop remotely piloted aircraft.