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| Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A MRTT (File Photo) |
By Aaron Mehta and Agence France-Presse
SEOUL and WASHINGTON — European aerospace giant Airbus won a $1.33 billion deal Tuesday to supply air refueling tankers to South Korea, beating US rival Boeing, Seoul's military procurement agency said.
Under the 1.488 trillion won deal, Airbus Defence and Space will supply four A330 MRTT aircraft by 2019 to South Korea's air force.
The A330 MRTT, a military derivative of the A330-200 airliner, was selected over Boeing's KC-46A, the state agency said.
It is South Korea's first introduction of the mid-air refueling aircraft which would allow jet fighters to take off with more loads of weapons.
The Defence Acquisition Programme Administration said the Airbus model received good marks in its price and performance as well as the amount of personnel and cargo it can carry.
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