FA-35 First Buy
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on March 24 that it will purchase 40 F-35As on a foreign military sales (FMS) basis for the Fighter eXperimental program.
The DAPA finalized the decision on that day at the 77th Defense Acquisition Committee meeting presided over by the Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin.
The FMS, which is a type of private contract between the Korean and U.S. governments, will be signed by the U.S. Department of the Air Force and DAPA. The supply price is scheduled to be determined based on the price at which Lockheed Martin supplies the fighter jet to the U.S. Air Force. The total price for the 40 units is known to be around 7.4 trillion won (US$6.9 billion).
“We will conclude the contract before the end of the third quarter this year through testing and negotiations,” a DAPA spokesperson explained.
With the final decision having been made on the purchase, the agency is next planning to kick off talks covering various issues such as technology transfer and the supply price.