Boeing Signs $1.5 Billion Deal To Replace S. Korea’s AH-1 Cobra

South Korea on Wednesday said it had agreed to buy a fleet of U.S. Apache attack helicopters in a deal worth $1.5 billion.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it would acquire 36 of the AH-64E Apache Guardian choppers from Boeing over a three-year period from 2016. The DAPA said the chopper has the ability to destroy tanks and armored vehicles, adding that it would strengthen the South’s defenses against provocation from the North.

The decision comes as the Korean peninsula remains in a state of heightened military tension, with the North threatening “thermo-nuclear war,” angered by fresh U.N. sanctions and joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises.

South Korea will be the fourth country to buy the four-blade, twin-engine helicopter after the United States, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, Yonhap said. The chopper will replace a fleet of AH-1 Cobra helicopters that have been in service for decades in South Korea, DAPA officials said.