New step in Korea - Vietnam cooperation between AIRBILITY and CT UAV

Figure 1 (2) — *Test flight of the AB-U60 prototype at Boryeong Airport*

Located about 2.5 hours by car from Seoul, in Chungcheongnam-do Province, South Korea, Boryeong Airport is one of the emerging test airports sponsored by the Korean Government to test and develop Korea's next-generation unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and urban air mobility (UAM).

With an initial runway of 450 meters and plans to extend it to 1,200 meters, the airport provides a safe and controlled environment, ideal for evaluating the performance and reliability of new flight technologies. Its proximity to leading research centers such as the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Academy of Defense Sciences (ADD) further enhances its strategic role.

On September 18, CT UAV (a member of CT Group Vietnam) and its partner Airbility (Korea) successfully conducted a test flight of the AB-U60 UAV prototype at this airport. The test was attended by leaders of both sides, aiming to evaluate the advanced tilt-rotor UAV model using an EDF (Electric Ducted Fan) engine.

Figure 2 (2) — *Test flight of the AB-U60 prototype at Boryeong Airport*

This test flight at Boryeong Airport is an important step in the plan to produce 5,000 OEM heavy-lift transport UAVs by CT UAV, according to the agreement signed with Airbility in August 2025 in Seoul, witnessed by General Secretary To Lam and South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min Seok.

Airbility is currently a Korean advanced aviation company in the group of emerging companies. Founded by leading experts such as: Dr. Taekyu Reu is the founder, currently serving as CEO, with over 40 years of experience, he is the author of many fighter jets of the Korean Ministry of Defense including KT-1, T-50 and KFX, as well as the country's first AESA radar; Dr. Jinmo Lee - co-founder and co-CEO, he was a senior research engineer at Hyundai for 10 years, worked at MIT University in the United States; Dr. Hyunsoon Kim – co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), he has 25 years of experience, successfully leading aircraft development projects at ADD (Korea Agency for Defense Development) and Dr. Minyoung Ahn – co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO), he was an image sensor engineer at LG Electronics, Project Manager (PM) at LG for a new business segment in Silicon Valley…

*CT UAV and Airbility flight team at test flight on September 18*

Airbility has received a lot of funding from investors such as Samho Green Investment, Base Ventures, Stonebridge Ventures, Mashup Ventures and 500 Global. At the same time, the company was selected to participate in many of Korea's leading startup and deep-tech support programs such as Startup NEST, Little Penguin, Ultra-Gap Startup 1000+ and Deep-tech TIPS.

Together with CT UAV, it is one of the leading units in ASEAN in the field of unmanned aircraft with 16 main product lines, from passenger transport, logistics, telecommunications, advertising, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, national security and defense, construction, real estate, oil and gas, power transmission, renewable energy, rescue, fire prevention and fighting, environmental protection and activities related to carbon credits. Thanks to the rapid speed of research and development, with a strong science and technology ecosystem, CT UAV creates a rare competitive advantage in the market. The two sides have chosen September 18 as the next milestone in their cooperation.

At noon on September 18, the sky of Chungcheongnam-do was blue, the sun was bright yellow, the white AB-U60 with 4 engines gently took off, you had to listen carefully to hear the whirring sound of the EDF engine. After taking off vertically, the engines changed direction to fly level and accelerated to 160km/h, circled the island and landed gently on the runway to the resounding applause of both Vietnamese and Korean teams. The test flight was carried out in accordance with aviation industry standards with the first flight of the 1/3 scaled down AB-U4 model and the second flight with the official AB-U60 model with a total take-off weight of 60kg.

Despite the successful test, the AB-U60 will continue to be tested in various weather conditions, ensuring enough flight hours and other technical standards before mass production. At the same time, the two sides will also research models weighing from 300 kg to 600 kg according to FAA (USA) standards.

Not only stopping at producing 5,000 heavy-duty transport UAVs for Airbility under OEM conditions, CT Group said it is promoting many new cooperation agreements with large domestic and foreign corporations, and at the same time preparing many product lines for the Indonesian market - a G20 country that has officially signed a cooperation agreement on low-altitude space economic development with CT Group, opening a sustainable ASEAN++ community cooperation model.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/buoc-tien-moi-trong-hop-tac-han-viet-giua-airbility-va-ct-uav-10387347.html