The development of the aircraft was funded 84% by the South Korean government and 16% by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Eurocopter.

[8] In June 2008, KAI announced that the first prototype KUH was to be rolled in the following month and that ground tests would begin later that year.

[19] In January 2011, Eurocopter and KAI established a joint venture, KAI-EC, for the purposes of marketing the Surion and handling export sales.

By 2011, the KNH had entered into the development stage; work was being performed on the project by a partnership between KAI, Eurocopter, and Elbit Systems.

[23] In December 2015, the Korea Forest Service and Jeju Fire Safety Headquarters, the largest civil government helicopter operator, ordered a firefighting and EMS version of the KUH-1 Surion; this requires a special airworthiness certificate.

The investigation revealed that the technology transfer arrangement with Airbus Helicopters only covered 134 out of the 450 components used in the rotorcraft's power delivery system.

[26] Between 2011 and 2016, the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands conducted a technology demonstration program under contract from KAI of an experimental fly-by-wire flight control system for the Surion.

[1] International marketing efforts are expected to escalate in 2017, as prior to this point the overwhelming priority had been to fully develop the Surion to conform with existing domestic requirements and roles.

This version helicopter is equipped with a GARMIN G5000H avionics suite, and strengthened airframe/structures for the installation of external fuel tanks and a weapons wing pylon.

[30] The KAI KUH-1 Surion is a twin-engine medium-sized multipurpose rotorcraft, carrying up to nine troops, with a crew of four, two pilots and two gunners in the main cabin area, in a utility transport capacity.

[31][32] Power is provided by a pair of 1900shp class Hanwha Techwin T700-701K turboshaft engines, a licence-built localized development of the General Electric T700.

[33][34] The T700/701K, co-developed by General Electric and Hanwha Techwin, is the first rear-drive variant of the T700 engine and features a -701D common core, high-efficiency counter-rotating power turbine, and a new FADEC system.

[16] On 22 May 2013, a handover ceremony of ten Surions was conducted to mark the helicopter's deployment at the Army Aviation School in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, attended by President Park Geun-hye.

[41] In late 2016, deliveries of the Surion were halted while a resolution for an icing issue that was discovered during winter testing was worked upon.

[43] In July 2020, the South Korean Army retired the last of its UH-1H helicopters after 52 years of operation, the type being replaced by the Surion.

In October 2020, a lawmaker raised concerns that DAPA's decision to retire them in favor of producing 130 additional KUH-1s would cost more than upgrading them, while delivering a helicopter with worse endurance, range, and carrying capacity.