KAI delivers first two Light Armed Helicopters to South Korean army

The Republic of Korea Army has accepted its first two Miron LAHs and will use the units for training and familiarisation. (DAPA)

The Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) has taken delivery of its first two Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) Light Armed Helicopters (LAHs).

KAI said that it held a delivery ceremony for the first two helicopters at its headquarters, at Sacheon, on 26 December. According to the company, the platform was designated Miron (LAH-1) at the Korea Army International Defense Industry Exhibition (KADEX) in October 2024.

The domestically produced, five tonne-class helicopter (which is based on the Airbus H155) will replace the RoKA's fleet of MD Helicopters 500 MD and Bell AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters, South Korea's Defense Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) said in a statement on 27 December. “In the future, Mirons will be operated as a core force for future aviation operations of the army,” DAPA said.

The delivery of the first Miron to the RoKA was achieved after “approximately three years of manufacturing and assembly processes, functional inspections, and acceptance inspections”, the agency added.

According to DAPA, the RoKA will deploy the initial production batch of Mirons (including the first production units) to aviation schools for the training of pilots and maintenance engineers. The army will then “sequentially deploy” additional production batches to army aviation battalions, the agency said.

The name ‘Miron' is a compound word of the Korean words ‘Mir' (meaning dragon) and ‘on' (meaning 100), according to DAPA. “This conveys the meaning of 100% mission completion,” the agency said.

The RoKA's acquisition of 10 initial LAH-1s was contracted in December 2022 in a KRW302 billion (USD205 million) deal.