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| Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A (A330) MRTT |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
European military hardware is becoming more popular on the Korean peninsula.
Two recent acquisition deals highlight that Seoul is increasingly favoring European over U.S. military hardware Defense News reports.
First, South Korea has decided to go with the bid of European defense contractor Airbus Defense and Space to supply the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) with four A330 multirole tanker transport (MRTT) aircraft. Airbus beat out U.S. rival Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries. Among other things, the $1.07 billion contract was awarded to Airbus due to an earlier aircraft delivery schedule, better depot maintenance and a cheaper price tag, largely due to the deprecation of the euro against the dollar.
“The A330 MRTT showed better performances than its rivals in terms of the duration of flight mission in larger areas and amount of refueling, as well as troop- and cargo-carrying capacity,” Kim Si-cheol, spokesman for Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) told Defense News.
Read the full story at The Diplomat