South Korea's Light Armed Helicopter Completes Low-Temperature Tests in Canada

South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that it has successfully conducted overseas low-temperature tests of the Light Armed Helicopter (LAH) under development in Korea.
The low-temperature test of the LAH was conducted in Yellowknife, Canada for about 9 weeks from December 2021 to February 2022.
The LAH's main mission is to cover air assault units and destroy enemy tanks.
Development was started by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in June 2015, and prototype No. 1 was unveiled in December 2018, about three years after development began, in December 2020, it was provisionally judged suitable for combat use.
Yellowknifeis the closest to the Arctic among Canadian cities, and it is known as the best place for a low-temperature test by maintaining an average winter of -32℃.
In the test, about 165 items were tested through a total of 40 flights. In particular, a soaking test was conducted, which exposes the aircraft to low temperatures for a long time and verifies aircraft operation capabilities. The soaking test exposes the aircraft to a cryogenic temperature of -32℃ for 12 hours to check whether the engine is started and various equipment are operating normally.
When the follow-up test and evaluation of the small armed helicopter is successfully completed, it will acquire the determination of suitability for combat and expand to unmanned and unmanned complex systems after development is completed at the end of 2022.
DAPA Helicopter Division Director, Army Brigadier General Lee Jong-hwa evaluated, “We will also lead the development of an unmanned system called Changer, contributing to improving the survivability of pilots and military personnel.”