Korean Air plans to put an unmanned tiltrotor to practical use for the first time in the world. A Tiltrotor is an aircraft whose rotor blades spin vertically during takeoff and landing, but tilt horizontally in flight. Korean Air signed an agreement with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute to develop the aircraft. The craft, tentatively named TR-6X, will be about 60 percent the size of an unmanned smart aerial vehicle that KARI developed late last year. They plan to complete development by June next year.
The drone will be able to fly for more than five hours at an altitude of 3 km or more and a maximum speed of 250 km/h, with an operational radius between 60 and 150 km. It is expected to have military value in narrow valleys where there is no runway or airstrip. The U.S. is the only country that has tiltrotor craft, but they require a pilot.
