S Korea to procure 60 advanced fighter aircraft

MOSCOW (BNS): South Korea has announced a tender for the procurement of 60 fighter aircraft with advanced stealth capability, a media report said.

Russia’s Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter is shortlisted for the tender which is estimated to be a biggest arms-procurement deal ever for the country with an estimated budget of $7.86 billion under a programme code-named FX-III.

According to Ria Novosti report, Russia's Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade cited South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) as saying that Sukhoi's fighter would compete with the F-15SE Silent Eagle from Boeing, the F-35 Lightning II from Lockheed Martin and the Eurofighter Typhoon from the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS).

The final announcement of the contract is expected to be declared in 2012, and the deliveries will start four years later.

The T-50 offered to Seoul is most likely to be an export version of the aircraft being developed by Sukhoi and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) under a $6-billion joint project, it said.

brahmand