Due to High Bidding Price
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said on Sept. 28 that it has failed to win the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Pilot Training Project, a multibillion dollar program intended to replace old trainer jets with new aircraft.
KAI teamed up with Lockheed Martin Corp. to win the project, but lost to a consortium of Boeing Co. and Sweden's Saab.
The U.S. Air Force originally planned to spend US$16.3 billion to build 350 advanced trainer jets. But the price offered by the Boeing consortium was $9.2 billion, according to a KAI official. "Boeing's bidding price was unbeatably low," he said.
The official refrained from disclosing KAI's own bidding price, simply saying it was higher than Boeing's offer.
The KAI-Lockheed Martin consortium offered the T-50A, a high-performance trainer jet developed by KAI, to the U.S. Air Force, but could not overcome the price gap with the Boeing consortium.