The U.S. government has approved Korea's request to perform chase flights and use a wireless data transfer system to test Lockheed Martin's F-35A, one of three fighter jets bidding for a multi-billion dollar project, a senior Seoul official said Wednesday.
American aerospace giant Lockheed is competing with fellow U.S. firm Boeing and Europe-based multinational defense group EADS to win the state-funded fighter jet deal worth upward of 8.3 trillion won ($7.3 billion). South Korea plans to purchase 60 fighter jets by 2021 to replace the Air Force's aging fleet.
To conduct the flight tests, the South Korean Air Force has asked the bidders if its pilots can use telemetry and pursuit planes to measure the function of each model. Boeing and EADS gave permission for South Korean pilots to test the planes, but Lockheed Martin had been reluctant to give the green light.
Ahead of a test slated for early September in its homeland, the U.S. Department of Defense has sent a letter allowing Korean test pilots to use the testing methods, a senior military official said.
"This letter serves as confirmation of our discussions outlining my decision to grant seven chase flights with ROK Air Force test pilots," the Pentagon letter read. The ROK is the acronym for South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea. "The F-35 JPA will meet your need for telemetry through material derived from the actual telemetry and flight sciences data test for the F-35."
Telemetry is a technology that allows data measurements to be made at a distance, using a wireless data transfer system.
The testing team has just completed two weeks of tests on Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle in the U.S, while evaluations for Lockheed's F-35A and EADS's Eurofighter are scheduled for next month, according to the state-run Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency.
The government had said it would pick the winner of the bid later this year, but the fate of the massive project is uncertain as it has faced challenges with the presidential election just five months away.
Korea has purchased 60 of Boeing's F-15 fighter jets since 2002 in the first two stages of its fighter modernization program. (Yonhap)