A CH-47 Chinook assigned to the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, takes flight in Paju, South Korea, March 19, 2025. (Jiwon Yun/U.S. Army)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korean militaries have agreed to allow a South Korean defense firm to service the T-55 engines on U.S. Army Chinook helicopters.
The allies agreed in principle to contract with a commercial firm to maintain, repair and overhaul the T-55s, according to a news release Tuesday from the South’s Ministry of National Defense.
The release does not identify the firm, but Hanwha, a major South Korean defense contractor, is the only company with the infrastructure and technical expertise to repair the T-55, a Hanwha spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.
The firm has serviced more than 5,700 aircraft engines, including those found in the roughly 40 South Korean army Chinooks, the spokesman said.
Hanwha in April completed a seven-month overhaul of the dry cargo ship USNS Wally Schirra at a Geoje Island shipyard, the company said in March. The job involved more than 300 repairs, according to a Hanwha news release.
The Wally Schirra overhaul was the first contract under a five-year agreement allowing Hanwha to bid for Navy work.
The agreement on Chinook repairs will maintain U.S. combat readiness in an era of regional disputes and supply chain issues, according to the ministry release.
The maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, pilot project is part of a DOD plan to solve the problem of sending U.S. military assets from the Indo-Pacific region to the continental United States for repair.
Allowing companies operating from five allied countries in the Indo-Pacific to service these U.S. assets would create a logistical network that cuts costs and time, according to a DOD news release July 18, 2024.
The fuselages of the U.S. and South Korean Chinooks differ, but the engines are identical, said the Hanwha spokesman.
“As Korea’s only dedicated aircraft engine company, we will leverage our 46 years of technical expertise not only to strengthen the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance but also to expand our presence in the global MRO market and secure future growth opportunities,” the spokesman said.
No further details, such as an estimated cost or timeline of the project, was available due to the agreement just being reached, the spokesman said. Some South Korean business officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.
U.S. military officials in March visited Hanwha’s aerospace plant in Changwon, roughly 180 miles southeast of Seoul, where they inspected the company’s capabilities and security protocols, senior manager Baek Il-seong told news reporters at the site April 24.
The company seeks to expand its services to the U.S. military by repairing the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, both of which are employed by the South Korean army, Baek said at the time.
