Textron Inks Deal With South Korea To Deliver Bell 505’s By 2025

Textron has signed a deal to provide 40ea of the Bell 505 helicopters to South Korea’s military.

The deal, part of the Republic of Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program requires the deliveries to be made by 2025, and will be used by both the Army and Navy divisions of the Korean armed forces.

Earlier this year, the Bell 505 achieved a milestone 100,000 global fleet hours. With the Republic of Korea taking delivery, it will join Indonesia, India, Jamaica, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and Montenegro in using this helicopter as part of its training platform. The bell 505 is considered a ‘light single-engine turbine’ 5-seat aircraft with a record of efficiency and reliability, Garmin avionics, and dual-channel Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC).

The Bell 505 joins a collection of other mostly USA sourced rotor-wing aircraft, such as the Sikorsky S70 and S92, MD500 Defender, Boeing CH-47, and Bell 412, with the Russian Kamov KA-27 and the French Eurocopter AS332 rounding out the fleet. The majority of the Republic of Korea’s airborne fleet is also from the USA, so there is a measure of comfort/familiarity with the equipment.

FMI: https://textron.com, https://bellflight.com