In 2014 South Korea formally announced a plan to buy 40 F-35A stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin
According to Reuters less than two months after U.S. President Donald Trump announced Seoul would be purchasing billions of dollars in new military equipment, South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo says Seoul is preparing to place another order for 20 Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighter aircraft.
South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration is said to have started the administrative process to purchase the 20 additional fighters.
In 2014 South Korea formally announced a plan to buy 40 F-35As from Lockheed Martin.
Noteworthy the country picked the Lightning II as the sole choice for its airforce’s new fighter jet acquisition plan, the so-called FX-III which aims to upgrade Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) to fighter jets with radar-evading stealth capabilities.
South Korea began its FX-III program to quickly renew the air force’s aging fleet. Lockheed’s F-35A won in a contest against Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle — an upgraded version of the F-15K model that South Korea already owns — and Eurofighter Typhoon.
Photo credit: Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew / U.S. Air Force
