South Korea spurns Boeing’s jets
SOUTH Korea yesterday voted down Boeing’s bid to supply 60 fighter jets, saying it would restart the tender process.
SOUTH Korea’s government bowed to public pressure yesterday and voted down Boeing’s bid to supply 60 fighter jets, saying it would restart the multibillion-dollar tender process in pursuit of a more advanced fighter.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35A, previously considered too expensive, has shot to the front of the line after the defence ministry singled out a fifth-generation fighter as the preferred option. The fifth-generation F-35A, complete with its hi-tech stealth capability, has already been ordered by seven countries, including Japan and Israel.
Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle had been in the box seat to win the 8.3trillion won ($7.7bn) tender — as the only bid to fall within budget — but former military top brass and even the ruling party’s legislators had criticised the aircraft as it lacked crucial stealth capabilities.
“Our air force thinks that we need combat capabilities in response to the latest trend of aerospace technology development centred on the fifth-generation fighter jets and to provocation from North Korea,” defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters.
A third bid by the Eurofighter consortium’s Typhoon was also ruled out for going over the finance min- istry’s budget. Under South Korean law, only bids under budget are eligible to win defence contracts.
A deal with Boeing or Lockheed Martin was seen as the most likely by experts because of South Korea’s close military alliance with the US against the belligerent North.
The South Korean government and air force will map out a fresh tender process and consider a new budget. The defence ministry said it could take around one year to complete the new tender round.
“(We) … will swiftly pursue the programme again in order to minimise the vacuum in combat capabilities,” said the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration, which led the assessment of the fighters.
The collapse of the deal, however, means a fresh start to Lockheed Martin, which has recently taken a new order from the Netherlands for the F-35. Britain, Australia, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan have also placed orders. Increased production of the aircraft will potentially allow Lockheed to lower its tender bid.
Earlier this month, a US Air Force general said he was committed to continue lowering its F-35 programme cost.
“We will continue to support the US government in its offer of the F-35A to Korea,” Lockheed Martin’s South Korean representative said after the decision.
US military officials say the biggest strength of the F-35 is its ability to fuse data from other aircraft and sensors, allowing it to LONDON — Airbus revised higher its long-term demand forecast by 3.6% yesterday, saying the aviation industry would need 29,226 new passenger and freight aircraft worth $4.4-trillion over the next 20 years, led by growth in Asia.
The new 20-year forecast includes 28,355 passenger jets, up 3.7% from its previous estimate a year ago, and 871 freighters, up 1.6%. Airbus hiked its forecast for demand for long-distance twinengined passenger aircraft such as the upcoming Airbus A350 and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner by 4.3% to 6,779 aircraft.
The forecast for short- and medium-haul aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, which dominate production by the world’s help identify targets for other fighters, and essentially command the battlefield.
South Korea’s decision marked a defeat for Boeing, which has spent billions of its own money developing the Silent Eagle variant of the F-15.
Last month, 15 South Korean former air force chiefs signed a petition opposing the choice of the F-15, saying it lacked the stealth capabilities of more modern aircraft.
Boeing said it was deeply disappointed by yesterday’s decision, largest aircraft makers, was raised 3.7% to 20,242 jets. But amid slow sales of its 525-seat A380 superjumbo and Boeing’s 747, Airbus kept its forecast for the world’s largest jetliners flat at 1,334.
Boeing is much less optimistic on demand for the industry’s fourengined mammoths, saying powerful twin jets such as its soon-to-berevamped 777 have displaced many of them. Airbus says urban growth will support superjumbo sales.
In June, Boeing revised up its own 20-year market demand forecast by 3.8% as the industry looks beyond the financial crisis to focus on growth in Asia. Both aircraft makers anticipate a surge in Asian travel that will keep production at their factories rising. adding that it had rigorously followed the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration’s instructions. “We await details from (the administration) on its basis for the delay while evaluating our next options,” Boeing said.
An administration official said South Korea had followed the rules in the bidding process, but declined to comment on possible legal action. A representative of the Eurofighter consortium said it would participate when the project restarted.