South Korea To Acquire Four New Aerial Tankers

South Korea is to acquire four aerial refueling tankers to enhance operational capabilities of its Air Force’s fleet of F-15Ks and KF-16s, according to the U.S Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The agency approved a plan yesterday to buy four foreign refueling tankers which are to be procured between 2017 and 2019.

“Bids are invited for the acquisition of refueling tankers next February, and the successful bidder is to be announced by October after evaluations of price and performance,” DAPA spokesperson said.

“When deployed in the field, the flight hour of our fighter aircraft will be able to increase by an average of one hour, which means our jets could fly long-range patrol mission more effectively over the islets of Dokdo and the Ieodo islet,” spokesperson added.

The issue of sovereignty over Ieodo, a submerged rock in the East China Sea, between South Korea and China, also has become more volatile.

With air-to-air refueling, a KF-16 can fly a mission for about 70 minutes and an F-15K is expected to conduct operation for about 90 minutes, according to South Korean Air Force officials.

The DAPA declined to give an official budget scale of the air refueling tanker procurement, but Defense News reported that the cost is over US$1.3 billion.

The Airbus Military’s MRTT A330 and Boeing’s KC-46 are the potential bidders.