July 31, 2012
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea has selected British defence firm BAE Systems for a 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) project to upgrade its ageing KF-16 fighter jets, a state agency said Tuesday.
BAE Systems' US branch beat rival Lockheed Martin to win the deal, the Defence Acquisition and Procurement Agency said, adding a contract would be signed later this year.
BAE Systems will upgrade the mission computers and operating systems of 134 KF-16 fighters by 2021. The agency plans to select a separate firm to upgrade the warplanes' radars.
The KF-16 is a version of the F-16 built locally under licence from Lockheed Martin in the 1990s.
The deal comes as US and European firms including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the makers of the Eurofighter Typhoon compete to win a $7.3 billion contract for 60 advanced fighter planes.
