Korea Overseas Information Service, The government said that it will support efforts by a local university to transform Korea into a research and development hub for international helicopter development.
The Ministry of Science and Technology said it will provide 500 million won to 1 billion won every year for a maximum of seven years so the country can gain first-hand technology related to the design of rotary aircraft.
The funds will go toward hiring foreign experts, project financing and technology development work, training local engineers and facilitating the transfer of key know-how in this high-tech sector.
“The project between Konkuk University and the Center for Aerospace Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (in the United States) can allow Korea to expand its horizons into the civilian helicopter field,” a ministry official said, adding that besides the military, a viable commercial market for helicopters exists and demand may grow.
She said Konkuk is playing a role in the ongoing Korean Helicopter Program (KHP) that will replace Korea's aging military helicopters and obtain the necessary technology to develop the helicopters independently.
The KHP program calls for launching prototype helicopter production in 2008 and conducting test flights in 2010 before starting mass production in 2012.
The Konkuk-Georgia Tech project is being led by Professor Yu Yung-hoon, a former NASA technician and expert in aeronautics.
In addition to the U.S. university, France's National Aerospace Research Center and Germany's Aerospace Research Center and Space Agency will be part of the R&D effort.
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