BAE Systems and Boeing are set to go ahead with a joint bid for Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) following a successful due diligence investigation. A senior executive at the UK company says that valuation is the only issue which needs resolving.
KAI, which brings together the aerospace activities of Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo, is looking for a foreign investment partner. A final request for proposals to make a binding offer is expected by the end of March.
The other shortlisted bidding team comprises Lockheed Martin and Aerospatiale Matra, which have been joined in recent weeks by Dassault, CFM International and Snecma.
The UK/US bidders have apparently accepted that cancellation of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)/Lockheed Martin T/A-50 (formerly KTX-2) advanced jet trainer programme is not an option and will not push the issue in their offer.
Up to now, BAE officials had hinted that the company hoped to push a new variant of its Hawk jet trainer as an alternative to the T/A-50, in a combined package with the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is a candidate to meet the Korean F-X requirement for a new front-line fighter.
"We have got to look at whether we can bring any technology to the trainer programme," says the source, talking at the show.
KAI is still pushing for a follow-on order from the Republic of Korea Air Force for more licence-produced KF-16s to bridge a production gap up to the start of T/A-50 production.
The air force is understood to have agreed to place an order for 20 aircraft, provided this does not affect F-X funding, although this is only half the number of aircraft required to avoid a 12-month production gap.
The first flight of a T-50 prototype is set for June 2002, with first deliveries to the air force in October 2005.
Source: Flight International
