Results of U.S. Air Force Trainer Project Bidding Are About to Be Released

Officials of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) are all tense as the U.S. Air Force is about to announce the results of bidding on its advanced pilot training (APT) project.

The APT project involves replacing U.S. Air Force’s trainer jet T-38As, which have been used for more than 40 years. The project amount is valued at 17 trillion won (US$15 billion). The initial quantity totals up to 350 trainers.

KAI has teamed up with Lockheed Martin to compete with a consortium formed by U.S. Boeing and Sweden's Saab.

Lockheed Martin and KAI went for the bidding with the KAI’s self-developed T-50A, which is an upgrade version of T-50. Currently, about 100 T-50s are operated in Korea, and 64 have been exported to Indonesia, Iraq, and the Philippines.