Seoul Reportedly Plans to Buy US' Osprey V-22 Aircraft

South Korea is considering buying a batch of US-made V-22 Osprey helicopter-airplane hybrids.

Seoul is mulling over the purchase of a batch of Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft that can fly like planes but take off and land like helicopters, the Korean Journal of Defense Analysis reports.

Representatives from Boeing are due to visit South Korea later this year to discuss the possibility of providing Seoul with the Ospreys.

South Korea's military plans to use these multi-purpose VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft for its special forces and use them to support troops based on remote South Korean islands in the Yellow Sea.

The islands are located near the territory of North Korea, which has prompted Seoul to find effective ways of protecting them in the event of a potential armed conflict.

As for the V-22 Osprey, its technical characteristics are thought to be better than those of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters currently used by the South Korean army.

Earlier, several other countries, including Japan and Israel, signaled their readiness to buy the VTOL aircraft as well.