Korea has developed an unmanned aircraft that can take off vertically by spinning its propellers like a helicopter and then level off by tilting them forward. The Smart UVA Development Center under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said Thursday that it successfully tested the unmanned tilt-rotor aerial vehicle at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s aviation center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province on Nov. 22. A combination of helicopter and propeller plane, tilt-rotor aircraft can “tilt” their “rotors” depending on flight conditions. They can land and take off without runways like helicopters by tilting the rotors up, and travel long distances at a high speed like propeller planes by tilting the rotors forward while in the air.
The center’s director, Lim Cheol-ho, said that unmanned tilt-rotor planes are suitable for Korea’s mountainous geography which is ill-suited for runways. The planes will be used for various purposes such as weather and environment surveys, forest-fire fighting and transportation monitoring, he added.
