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The competition is heating up among foreign bidders. vying to supply Korea with new combat
fighter jets that would replace its aging fleet of aircraft.
The three frontrunners are now pulling out all the stops. to win a contract for the multi-billion
dollar project.
Our defense ministry correspondent Han Da-eun tells us more. Lockheed Martin's F-35A, Boeing's
F-15 Silent Eagle. and the Eurofighter built by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space
Company, better known as EADS.
These are the three fighter jets that are fiercely competing for the right to participate
in Korea's Fighter Experimental project,. worth some 8-point-3 trillion won,. or about
7-point-3 billion U.S. dollars.
The FX project,. aimed at replacing the nation's aging feet of combat planes,. is the largest
single defense project Korea has seen so far.
Although all of the companies have spruced up their initial bids to win the deal, EADS
is being notably more aggressive than the two U.S. firms,. offering to invest two billion
dollars in Korea's fighter jet development project, known as the KFX, if the Eurofighter
is chosen.
Promising a transfer of advanced manufacturing technologies,. the European firm says it will
help Korea build its own fighter jet, primarily with its own technology.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has offered to manufacture aircraft parts in Korea,. and
vowed to actively engage in the KFX project, while Boeing has pledged an investment of
up to 1-hundred million dollars.
Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration says it will review the proposals carefully
and end the selection process by next month.
"The schedule could be delayed, but we aim to complete the main bidding process by the
end of June."
Once Korea picks the winning company,. the government plans to procure a total of 60
jets,. beginning in the year 2017.
Han Da-eun, Arirang News.