By Kang Seung-woo
The procurement office will accept the final bids in a $7.5 billion jet fighter contract, next Tuesday.
“The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has informed the three companies that the bids will be accepted from Tuesday,” DAPA spokesman Baek Yoon-hyung said, Wednesday.
Three companies ― the European Aerospace Defense and Space Company (EADS), Lockheed Martin and Boeing ― are participating in the bidding process.
“We will be in the bidding,” an official from one of the three bidders said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Two other bidders also said that they are preparing to offer final bids.
The three companies are offering the Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon from the EADS, Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle and Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth jet as replacements for the Korean Air Force’s obsolete fleet of F-4s and F-5s from 2017. DAPA plans to announce the successful bidder at the end of the month.
The bidding announcement comes days after DAPA announced Monday that three rivals dangled “sweetened” incentives in offset packages.
EADS has promised to assemble 53 of the 60 Eurofighters locally, along with an offer to provide the source code of its fighter jets ― the key to the plane’s electronic brains ― and the purchase of Korean-made parts.
Boeing proposed to purchase parts from Korean companies and establish a live virtual constructive (LVC) simulation to train Korean pilots, while Lockheed has proposed to support the Korean military’s plan to develop its own communications satellite, along with an LVC system.