Republic of Korea Armed Forces Power Up New Bell 505 Helicopters

South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced late in June, the successful power-ups of its new training helicopters acquired for the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN).

The new Bell 505 helicopters were part of the Basic Flight Training Helicopter Power-up Completion Ceremony held at the Army Aviation School.

Army Brigadier General Koh Hyung-seok, the head of DAPA’s Helicopter Division said, the introduction of the new training helicopter would greatly contribute to strengthening military power by strengthening connectivity with operational helicopters, and will serve as an opportunity to create a new turning point in the training of military helicopter pilots.

The ROKA, ROKN are replacing their 500MD, UH-1H helicopters which are over 40 years old with the Bell 505.

Bell Textron also announced this June, that it had successfully delivered 40 Bell 505 helicopters to the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) and Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), fulfilling the contract inked in May 2022. Bell delivered the first helicopter in November 2023. Korea is also acquiring eight simulators for the fleet, in addition to flight training devices from a domestic firm.