Article Posted on : - Mar 14, 2011

The F-15K fighter. A file photo

SEOUL (BNS): The South Korean Air Force (ROKAF) has received two more F-15K ‘Slam Eagle’ fighters from US defence major Boeing.

The new advanced fighters have been deployed at the South’s 11th Fighter Wing in Daegu, 302 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the official Yonhap news agency reported Monday quoting the Air Force.

The F-15K – an advanced variant of the F-15E Strike Eagle all-weather ground attack strike fighter – is being delivered to South Korea by Boeing under a $2.3 billion deal signed in 2008.

The new fighter jet features latest technologies, including advanced radars, latest weapons systems and more powerful engines.

South Korea will acquire 21 such fighters under the second phase of its fighter modernisation programme.

The delivery of the aircraft is to be completed by 2012.

Boeing had delivered the first six F-15Ks to South Korea under the second phase of the fighter modernisation programme in September and December 2010.

The country’s air force has already acquired 40 F-15K fighters under the first phase of its fighter modernisation programme.

With the latest acquisition, the total number of F-15K Slam Eagles in the ROKAF has gone up to 47. The air force had lost one F-15K in a crash in 2006.