Korean-UK Team to Bid for British Naval Tanker Program
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A South Korean-United Kingdom consortium of defense firms will participate in a bid to build six tanker ships for the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary, a report said Sunday.
BAE, Britain's biggest shipbuilder, announced a team involving South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering last week, according to the Defense News, a U.S. weekly military newspaper.
The Surface Fleet Solutions business of BAE will act as lead contractor and program manager, it said. BMT, the British company that designed the two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers planned for the Royal Navy, will provide the tanker design, while Daewoo will build the ships in South Korea.
More than a dozen foreign and British companies are expected to respond to the pre-qualification questionnaire. Those numbers will be reduced to about six bidders and cut to a maximum of three later this year before the winner is selected. The first ship is expected in service by 2012.