By Yi Whan-woo
Korea and Spain will open talks this month at the earliest over a proposed deal to trade trainer jets for transport planes, according to defense ministry officials, Sunday.
If realized, the deal will mark Korea's first export of aircraft to Europe.
The officials said the Ministry of National Defense and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have been reviewing Spain's proposal to trade some of its A-400M transport planes, made by Airbus, for KT-1 and T-50 trainer jets produced by KAI.
Spain made the offer “through an unofficial route” in July 2018 at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom.
It issued an official proposal in November during a joint defense industry cooperation committee meeting in Madrid.
“Since then, we've been conducting a feasibility study concerning Spain's offer and also outlining our negotiations,” a ministry official said, adding Korea plans to send officials to Spain.
Spain has reportedly ordered 27 A-400Ms from Airbus. But has decided to sell 13 of them and received consent from Airbus.
It is reportedly hoping to deliver four to six A-400Ms to Korea in return for 30 KT-1s and 20 T-50s.
Korea has a fleet of C-130 Hercules cargo planes, which can fly more than 5,200 kilometers with a maximum load of 74.3 tons.
The A-400M can carry 141 tons with a range of roughly 8,700 kilometers.
The Air Force has said it needs larger cargo planes for more efficient disaster relief and peacekeeping operations.