South Korea’s Marine Attack Helicopter: What Can the MAH Do?

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration has completed development of the Marine Attack Helicopter, an armed derivative of the KAI MUH-1 Marineon that will give the Republic of Korea Marine Corps a dedicated attack helicopter for amphibious operations. The agency marked the milestone on October 28 with a ceremony at the Korea Aerospace Industries plant in Sacheon attended by military officials and foreign defence attachés, according to the news agency Yonhap and the Seoul outlet Newspim. The program was launched in October 2022 with a development budget of around 450 billion won, approximately $337 million, and the helicopter passed a combat suitability evaluation in July before receiving airworthiness certification in August. The four-year development cycle highlights how far South Korea‘s helicopter industry has come, with the Marine Corps set to field a domestically developed design rather than the AH-64E Apache or AH-1Z Viper that were considered as foreign options early in the program.

The helicopter carries a 20 millimetre M197 three-barrel rotary cannon in a nose turret, the same gun mounted on the U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-1Z, alongside 70 millimetre guided and unguided rockets and the Cheongeom air-to-surface missile, which Newspim reported has a range of around eight kilometres. The agency stated in May that all weapons tests had been completed, including a live firing of an air-to-air guided missile that made the design the first Korean-built military helicopter to demonstrate the capability, with MBDA having been contracted in October 2023 to integrate its Mistral ATAM missile. Targeting relies on an L3Harris WESCAM MX-15D electro-optical turret linked to a helmet-mounted display, while the airframe is reportedly protected against 12.7 millimetre rounds and fitted with self-sealing fuel tanks. Jeong Jae-jun, head of the agency’s Basic Force Projects Bureau, credited close cooperation with the armed forces and domestic industry and pledged to keep the start of mass production on schedule.

The Marine Attack Helicopter is intended to escort the Marineon transports during amphibious landings, strike enemy coastal positions, support ground forces on request and counter enemy helicopters and drones. The Marine Corps operates 28 Marineons in two amphibious helicopter battalions, according to Newspim, having re-formed its aviation group at Pohang in December 2021. The smooth progress of the program contrasts considerably with recent setbacks elsewhere in the South Korean defence sector, from the faults sidelining K2 tanks in Poland to the bidding ban on LIG Nex1 that has left a KF-21 missile program in doubt. Korea Aerospace Industries is meanwhile preparing to hand over FA-50M fighters to Malaysia under an 18-aircraft order worth RM4 billion.

The helicopter is 19 metres long with a 15.8 metre main rotor and a maximum takeoff weight of 8.7 tonnes. Two T700-701K turboshaft engines produced under licence by Hanwha Aerospace give it a top speed of 265 kilometres per hour and an endurance of around three hours and 40 minutes. Folding rotor blades allow it to be stowed aboard the Dokdo class amphibious assault ships. Around 20 helicopters are expected to be built from 2027, although Newspim reported a figure of 24 to form a single attack squadron. The Marineon on which the design is based had a troubled start, with one crashing during a test flight at Pohang on July 17, 2018 and killing five Marines, an accident investigators tentatively attributed to a defective rotor mast.