South Korea eyes 20 Typhoon jets
The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium, which includes defence manufacturer BAE Systems, has been asked to join the battle for a £1.2 bn contract to supply South Korea with next-generation aircraft.
The Far East nation's government has asked for information about the Lancashire-built fighter jet as it looks to splash out on 20 new planes.
BAE is the latest firm to make contact with the Korean Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) about the FX contract, after manufacturing rival Boeing put its name forward earlier this week.
A spokesman for BAE confirmed the company has supplied information about Eurofighter to the DAPA.
He said: "We have been approached by the South Korean acquisition team and expect to receive a request for a proposal from them in due course, we will then look at the specifications of what they are looking for and then made a decision on whether we intend to join the competition from there.
"However, we have already supplied them with some low-level information about Eurofighter's capabilities."
BAE is widely-tipped to be in the running for the contract which would see it supply 20 jets to Korea from 2010 to 2012 to go alongside a fleet of 40 Boeing F-15Ks the country has already ordered.
The Russian Sukhoi-35 Super Flanker and the Rafale – built by French company Dassault – are expected to challenge Eurofighter and Boeing for the work.
A contract win for BAE would be a major boost for Warton and Samlesbury, the hub of the company's involvement in the Eurofighter programme, which sees them working alongside Franco-German firm EADS and Italian manufacturer Alenia Aeronautica.
In January, the firm revealed it had opened preliminary talks with Japan about supplying 50 Eurofighter jets and was expected to be in the running when the contract is official put out to tender later this year.
To date, the controversial orders from Saudi Arabia and Austria, for 72 and 18 jets respectively, are the only confirmed deals from outside the consortium.
However, talks are ongoing with a large number of countries across the world looking to bolster their aircraft fleet.
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