The embattled defense procurement agency may report soon to President Park Geun-hye on how to prop up its faltering project to develop indigenous jet fighters in the aftermath of the U.S.' rejection of four key technologies being transferred to the program.

The 18 trillion-won ($15.9 billion) project to produce 120 combat jets hit a major stumbling block after the U.S. Department of State denied in April export licenses on four of the 25 technologies U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin offered for the local program.

"Defense Acquisition Program Administration Minister Chang Myoung-jin may directly report to President Park as early as this week on a comprehensive package of countermeasures on the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) development, including local tech development and collaboration from three foreign countries," a government official said.

Under the planned report, DAPA plans to have the state-run Agency for Defense Development and local defense manufacturer LIG Nex 1 finish their development by 2021 of the active electronically scanned array radar, a key stealth jet technology that was denied in April. 

DAPA will seek technical assistance from Israel, Britain and Sweden to procure around 30 technologies required for the local radar development, according to the official who has knowledge about the report.

The technical collaboration with the three countries is reportedly still under consideration, with the countries yet to make final decisions.

Local development will be sought for the other three technologies -- infrared search and track, an electronics optics targeting pod and radio frequency jammer -- although more sophisticated skills will be further required at the final stage of linking them to an aircraft's mission computer.

"DAPA plans to secure major operational algorithms from the three countries in order to develop source codes needed for the integration technology," a DAPA official said.

"DAPA is preparing the comprehensive report on the KF-X project. ... The date of the report has not been set," the official said.

The lavish combat aircraft project has recently come under fire after DAPA belatedly announced last month the U.S. State Department's rejection of technical support.

In an offset deal linked to South Korea's purchase of 40 F-35 Lightning II fighters last year, Lockheed Martin had initially offered to transfer a total of 25 technologies for the KF-X before the U.S. government vetoed the transfer of four of them under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. (Yonhap)