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South Korea to Award Tanker, Fighter Contracts by End of Year

: Mar 24, 2014 - : 11:19 am

The Republic of Korea Air Force expects to make a selection and sign a contract on its new tanker before the end of the year, according to one of the service’s top generals.

The service will also announce its next-generation fighter selection next month, Lt. Gen. Hyungchul Kim, the Republic of Korea air force’s vice chief of staff, told a Washington audience during an event hosted by the Air Force Association on Friday, March 21, 2014.

The F-X program will replace South Korea’s aging F-4 and F-5 fighter fleet. Although Kim treated the program as an open competition, it is widely believed that Seoul has settled on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Once that selection is made, Kim said he expects a contract before the end of the year. The selection will also help kick off the KF-X program, South Korea’s development program of an indigenous fighter design. The two programs are directly linked, with Kim saying how much technical support and tech transfer the winner of the F-X program gives to Korea the “most important factor” in its selection.

The KF-X program will “be launching in the second half of this year,” Kim said.

The Korean air force opened its doors for bidding on its KC-X tanker program in October, with the eventual award for production estimated at just under $1 billion. Korean is looking for something with cargo capacity as well as both boom and drogue refueling capabilities.

Three platforms have been entered into the competition, according to Kim: The Airbus A330, Boeing’s KC-46A platform and an offering from Israeli Aerospace Industries of modified, previously owned Boeing 767s. Once a selection is made this year, Kim said to expect delivery before 2020.

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