Article Posted on : - Jul 11, 2013

S Korean fighter jets. A ROKAF photo

SEOUL (BNS): South Korea's effort to buy new advanced fighter jets for its air force appears to have been stalled as the country's defence procurement agency is planning to re-examine the project over pricing issue.

High price tags quoted by the competing firms -- US's Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and European conglomerate EADS -- has led the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) mulling to stop the current bidding and re-examine the project, a media report said on Thursday.

"The DAPA plans to stop the current bidding and re-examine the project," a senior DAPA official was quoted as saying by the official Yonhap news agency.

"Whether to restart the procurement plan from scratch or make changes to requirements will be discussed," the official added.

The move to re-examine the project comes after DAPA carried out 55 separate biddings with the three defence firms to buy 60 advanced jets with an 8.3 trillion won (USD 7.2 billion) budget, but the procedure was put on hold last week due to their expensive price tags, the report said.

Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle, Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon are in contention for the deal.

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) is to procure the advanced combat jets under the third phase of its fighter modernisation programme, code-named "F-X."