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Korea suggests possible delay in picking winner for fighter jet bid
By 오규욱Published : June 20, 2012 - 19:26
South Korea could put off a decision to select a supplier for a multi-billion-dollar purchase of advanced combat fighter jets if it is necessary for the "national interest," the head of the nation's arms procurement agency said Wednesday.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration reopened bidding Tuesday for the fighter-jet contract worth upward of 8.3 trillion won ($7.1 billion), a day after Boeing, Lockheed Martin and EADS submitted bids, citing errors in the relevant documents.
The DAPA set a new deadline for bids of July 5 and plans to select a winner in October. Boeing's F-15 SE, Lockheed's F-35 and the EADS Eurofighter are competing to win the huge deal.
"Our plan to make a decision by the end of October is not a deadline, but a target," DAPA commissioner Noh Dae-rae told Yonhap News Agency.
"We could delay the timing of selecting a supplier at any time if it is necessary for the national interest."
A controversy has erupted in South Korea that Lockheed's F-35 will undergo performance tests using simulators, not actual test flights with South Korean pilots.
While Boeing and EADS agreed to carry out performance tests through real flights with a Korean pilot on board, Lockheed refused to do so, saying its radar-evading aircraft is not in service and still under development, DAPA officials said.
Instead, the DAPA requested Lockheed conduct performance tests with simulators with a Korean pilot on board a different fighter jet tracking the F-35, officials said.
Noh said that the DAPA and Lockheed have been in talks over the request and the U.S. defense contractor will give an answer on Friday.
"If the U.S. side rejects our request, we will have no choice but to give a zero point in the criteria of flight-testing (of the F-35)," Noh said.
The flight-test schedule of the single-seat F-35 has been delayed, raising concerns over rising costs and that the aircraft may not be available until 2020.
Korea has purchased 60 of Boeing's F-15 fighter jets since 2002 under the first two stages of the fighter modernization program, code-named "F-X." (Yonhap News)
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration reopened bidding Tuesday for the fighter-jet contract worth upward of 8.3 trillion won ($7.1 billion), a day after Boeing, Lockheed Martin and EADS submitted bids, citing errors in the relevant documents.
The DAPA set a new deadline for bids of July 5 and plans to select a winner in October. Boeing's F-15 SE, Lockheed's F-35 and the EADS Eurofighter are competing to win the huge deal.
"Our plan to make a decision by the end of October is not a deadline, but a target," DAPA commissioner Noh Dae-rae told Yonhap News Agency.
"We could delay the timing of selecting a supplier at any time if it is necessary for the national interest."
A controversy has erupted in South Korea that Lockheed's F-35 will undergo performance tests using simulators, not actual test flights with South Korean pilots.
While Boeing and EADS agreed to carry out performance tests through real flights with a Korean pilot on board, Lockheed refused to do so, saying its radar-evading aircraft is not in service and still under development, DAPA officials said.
Instead, the DAPA requested Lockheed conduct performance tests with simulators with a Korean pilot on board a different fighter jet tracking the F-35, officials said.
Noh said that the DAPA and Lockheed have been in talks over the request and the U.S. defense contractor will give an answer on Friday.
"If the U.S. side rejects our request, we will have no choice but to give a zero point in the criteria of flight-testing (of the F-35)," Noh said.
The flight-test schedule of the single-seat F-35 has been delayed, raising concerns over rising costs and that the aircraft may not be available until 2020.
Korea has purchased 60 of Boeing's F-15 fighter jets since 2002 under the first two stages of the fighter modernization program, code-named "F-X." (Yonhap News)
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