By Brendan Sobie in London
South Korea has selected the Boeing 737 with Northrop Grumman Mesa radar over the Gulfstream G550 platform with Elta Phalcon radar in its long-running four-aircraft airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) competition.
The South Korean Defence Acquisition and Programme Agency (DAPA) says it decided today only the 737-based solution (a Boeing artist's impression of which is pictured below) meets all the requirements of its AEW&C programme. DAPA originally was planning to select a winner at a May acquisition meeting but twice delayed its decision to give Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and US partner DRS Technologies more time to guarantee they can overcome US export restrictions.
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Boeing secured the required licences and forged technical assistance agreements with all its partners several months ago. It has lobbied Seoul the last two years for a sole source contract on the grounds the IAI solution, which originally included a communications suite from L-3, did not meet the requirement. But Korea, reluctant to go forward with the programme without a more robust competition, repeatedly delayed the acquisition and several times issued new request for proposals.
The selection today of the 737, which has always been considered a heavy favourite, paves the way for Seoul to enter into sole source negotiations with Boeing. A contract should be concluded within the next few months. It will be Boeing’s third contract for its 737-based AEW&C solution, following Australia and Turkey.
Source: Flight International