The Repub­lic of Korea Army retired its UH-1H Huey heli­copters after 52 years of service.

South Kore­an UH-1N Huey ser­vice has flown 792,000 hours and 146,000,000 km and being offi­cial­ly retired from ser­vice on July 31st.

The Army has oper­at­ed 129 UH-1H chop­pers. They flew an accu­mu­lat­ed 792,000 hours over 146 mil­lion kilo­me­ters dur­ing the peri­od, it said. The basic UH‑1 design pre­dates the Viet­nam War.

The UH-1H chop­pers were mobi­lized in var­i­ous mis­sions and train­ings, as well as in res­cue oper­a­tions and fire sup­pres­sion activities.

Replac­ing the UH-1H chop­pers is South Korea’s indige­nous mul­ti-role chop­per Surion.

The Suri­on is the first home­grown heli­copter which the Kore­an mil­i­tary start­ed to deve­l­ope in 2006 with the aim of replac­ing the old and super­an­nu­at­ed heli­copters which they cur­rent­ly oper­ates and nur­tur­ing the local heli­copter indus­try. Under the sup­port of the Min­istry of Knowl­edge Econ­o­my and DAPA, KAI set out for devel­op­ing the Suri­on and fin­ished mak­ing its maid­en flight in 2010.