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| Lockheed Martin F-35 |
By JUNG SUNG-KI
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s multi-billion-dollar project to acquire 60 new combat aircraft is facing delays following controversies over the fighter jet evaluation methods and mistakes in how the bids were submitted.
In the latest fiasco, the 8.3 trillion won ($7.2 billion) contest was postponed June 19, just one day after the three bidders — Lockheed Martin, Boeing and EADS — submitted their proposals for the F-X III contest, whose winner is to be announced in October. That’s because the proposals by Lockheed and EADS failed to meet translation requirements, according to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
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| Eurofighter Typhoon |
Lockheed is offering the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing the F-15SE Silent Eagle and EADS the Typhoon.
Four of the 24 files Lockheed submitted, related to offset programs and the prices of key equipment, lacked documents translated into Korean, while EADS’ 32 files were mostly in English with only an executive summary in Korean, the agency said in a statement.
The decision fanned the possibility that the fighter procurement plan would not meet its schedule.
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