The South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is planning to resume bidding for the country’s long-troubled multi-billion dollar F-X III Fighter programme in August 2013.

Bidding for the programme was cancelled by the organisation following competitors’ inability to offer prices within the estimated KRW8.3tn ($7.43bn) budget after 55 rounds, earlier this month.

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The bidding was carried out from 18 June to 5 July.

DAPA spokesman Baek Youn-hyeong was quoted by Reuters as saying that during a briefing the decision to resume bidding for the F-X project was taken at the defence project committee meeting.

"Bidding for the programme was cancelled by the organisation following competitors’ inability to offer prices within the estimated KRW8.3tn ($7.43bn) budget after 55 rounds."

Meanwhile, Youn-hyeong also hinted at the possibility of budget increase, but did not provide additional details.

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"If there is no entry with price within the project budget after the resumption of bidding, we will pursue the project again through reviews or increase in overall budget," Youn-hyeong said.

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South Korea has consistently insisted that meeting the budget limit was one of the most critical requirements of the programme.

Boeing is proposing its F-15 Silent Eagle, while Lockheed Martin and EADS have offered the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) and the Tranche 3 Typhoon for the competition, which seeks acquisition of 60 advanced aircraft for replacement of the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (ROKAF) ageing F-4 and F-5 fighter aircraft fleet.

Originally scheduled to select a winner in October 2012, for subsequent introduction of the new aircraft into service between 2017 and 2021, F-X III project, which is considered to be the world’s biggest fighter procurement this year, has been constantly delayed over pricing issues.

Defence Technology