South Korean Marine Attack Helicopter Completes First Live Fire Test

The Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) successfully conducted three live-fire tests of machine guns and rockets recently to verify the attack capabilities of the Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH).

This live-fire test is a key procedure to verify the helicopter's day and night combat operation capability, and has become an opportunity to confirm the actual combat capability required for conducting landing operations, DAPA said today.

In particular, the success of the fire test is evaluated as a very important milestone for securing the foundation for the Marine Corps to operate its own air power in actual combat.

The amphibious assault helicopter is being developed by applying the latest avionics equipment and weapon systems proven through the domestic light armed helicopter (LAH) power-up to the domestically produced amphibious utility helicopter (MUH) Marineon based on the Surion.

Following the success of the first test flight of the prototype in December of last year, and the success of the machine gun and rocket armament test this time, full-scale flight test evaluations centered on live-fire of guided rockets and air-to-ground missiles will be conducted in the latter half of this year, and development is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2026.

The amphibious assault helicopter (MAH) that will be deployed in the future will play a role in providing cover for the Marine Corps' Marine On amphibious mobility helicopter (MUH) when it assaults enemy territory. It will also perform combat support missions by providing powerful firepower when requested by units conducting operations on the ground.

The head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's helicopter division (Army Brigadier General Koh Heung-seok) said, "This week's successful day and night live-fire tests have proven the core performance for the actual deployment of the amphibious attack helicopter," and added, "We will thoroughly prepare for follow-up processes such as air-to-ground and air-to-air missile firing tests in the future, carry out the remaining development schedule without a hitch, and successfully complete the development."