BAE Systems expects that the U.S. and Korean governments will sign a letter of offer and acceptance later this year authorizing the foreign military sale (FMS) of BAE’s F-16 avionics and weapons upgrade to the Republic of Korea Air Force. The company provided an update on the Korean program and a sales pitch for further F-16 upgrades during a Paris Air Show briefing on Tuesday.
BAE plans to conduct systems integration work and deliver production kits for 134 Korean F-16C/Ds. The Korean government selected BAE for the upgrade last summer over F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin. A separate procurement for an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar was decided in April, when the Korean air force selected Raytheon’s Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) over Northrop Grumman’s scalable agile beam radar. BAE executives said the U.S. Air Force combined the two procurements into a single requirement for the FMS.