South Korea received its first batch of Wildcat choppers made by British helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland on Monday with the Navy aiming to deploy them to frontline units by the middle of next year.

The four AW159 Wildcat combat helicopters will be deployed after undergoing a series of tests on functions, according to the Navy. Seoul plans to take delivery of four more Wildcats at the end of this year.

The chopper, known to be equipped with an active electronically scanned array radar, is capable of flying for more than three hours with sonar systems, it said. It can stay in the air for more than two hours with a sonar and one torpedo.

In 2013, the South Korean Navy picked the Wildcat chopper over the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter by U.S. company Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. as its new multi-mission maritime helicopter.

But the introduction of the helicopters had been delayed as several military officials including former Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, ex-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were embroiled in a bribery scandal. (Yonhap)