South Korea will restart bidding in mid-August for its multi-billion dollar fighter jet competition after offerors and Seoul couldn’t come to terms in the previous rounds, according to a key Air Force official.
“Frankly, all the competitors came in and didn’t meet the target the (South) Korea government was looking for,” Pacific Air Forces Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle said on July 29 as part of a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington. “(South) Korea had to make a decision to either find a way to pay a higher amount or lower the number of airplanes they were going to buy…that decision has not been made.”
Boeing [BA] is offering its F-15 for the competition while Lockheed Martin [LMT] is offering the F-35. The team of Finmecannica subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi, BAE Systems and Cassidian, a division of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS), are offering their Eurofighter Typhoon. Boeing spokeswoman Amy Horton said the company proposed a comprehensive offset program that built on Boeing’s relationship with South Korean industry and addressed all priority areas including logistics, technology transfer and parts manufacture.
Lockheed Martin spokesman Eric Schnaible said the F-35 would deliver a significant increase in combat capability over the competing fourth generation aircraft and, if selected, would provide the foundation for the most secure Korean Peninsula possible for several decades to come. An email to EADS for comment was not returned by press time.
South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Programme Agency (DAPA) requested each of the competitors to formally submit each price offering in a sealed envelope, according to an industry source. Bids were reviewed individually by DAPA and summarized and reported internally. Fifty-five separate bids were submitted over a three-week period, the source said, with an average of three to four rounds in a morning session and a similar number in afternoon sessions for an average of about six rounds per day.
The source said bidding began June 18 and ran through June 28. After a short break, DAPA resumed bidding July 3-5 before ending the second round of bidding. After an internal review, DAPA formally notified all three competitors that they were resuming the bidding process on Aug. 12, according to the source. An email to the South Korean embassy in Washington was not returned by press time.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in April it notified Congress of a potential Direct Commercial Sale (DCS) to South Korea in support of 60 F-15 Silent Eagles and associated equipment and support worth an estimated $2.4 billion. DSCA also said in April it notified Congress of a potential Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to South Korea of 60 conventional variant F-35s with associated parts and support worth a potential $10.8 billion.