KAI (Korea Aerospace Industry Co., Ltd.) announced on the 16th that it held a completion ceremony of the rotary wing flight center, which will be the core of the research and development of rotary wing and future aircraft.

A total of about 30 key figures and related parties, including KAI President Kang Gu-young and Jinju Mayor Cho Gyu-il, attended the completion ceremony held at the Gasan Industrial Complex built in Ibanseong-myeon, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do.

The rotary flight center consists of a 5-story building with a ground-on-ground building with a land area of about 41,000 pyeong (135,197m²), a hangar that can hold helicopters, and a 700-meter runway, and can operate 5 helicopters at the same time. About 120 people will be deployed in the research and testing fields.

In December 2021, with the signing of the Jinju City and KAI Investment Agreement (MOA), an investment of about 40 billion won was carried out, and the design was started in '22, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in '23, and it was approved for completion in '24.

The construction of the rotary flight center was promoted to improve the test flight environment and build the development infrastructure for future projects with R&D and the expansion of new projects.

In conjunction with the expansion of businesses such as LAH mass production, Surion derivative helicopters, and exports, an efficient and safe flight test environment is expected by improving the limited test environment to saturated air space and military missions, and separating the operation of fixed-wing and rotating-wing models.

In addition, it is planned to expand the scope of utilization of future aircraft such as AAV, high-speed medium-sized mobile helicopters, and manned composite systems to research and development, demonstration and flight tests, and nurture them as a growth base for the future aerospace industry in Korea.

KAI President Kang Gu-young said, "The rotary wing flight center is a symbol of the growth and development of the domestic aerospace industry," and "I would like to express my gratitude to the local residents of Jinju City and Ibanseong-myeon for their efforts for completion, and I will continue to develop the rotary wing flight center so that it can become a key base for the future aerospace industry in the future." I said.