The South Korean government shot down an offer from Boeing to supply 60 warplanes on Tuesday, announcing that it would instead acquire its own stealth jets.
Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle plane was the only bid within Seoul's budget, Reuters reported, and was slated to be the winning aircraft. But military officials and legislators scrutinized the usefulness of the plane, since it didn't fulfill certain radar-evading qualifications that South Korea was looking for.
"Our air force thinks that we need combat capabilities in response to the latest trend of aerospace technology development centered around the fifth generation fighter jets and to provocations from North Korea," Kim Min-seok, defense ministry spokesperson, told Reuters.
Some said that based on those comments, Boeing didn't have a shot at winning the bid. The F-15 Silent Eagle's electronic warfare equipment rendered it vulnerable to enemies, and that presented an issue for the South Korean government.
Other aircrafts for sale include Lockheed Martin's F-35A, which has raced to the forefront as the preferred choice. The aircraft comes with next-level stealth capabilities and advanced technology - the United States, Japan, Israel and four other countries have already ordered the F-35A.
Experts claimed that a deal between South Korea and either Boeing or Lockheed Martin would most likely happen, since South Korea has a tight military alliance with the United States against North Korea.
South Korea said they would take another look at their budget and make necessary revisions, potentially scaling back on the number of purchased planes to around 40.
"DAPA...will swiftly pursue the program again in order to minimize the vacuum in combat capabilities," the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration, ( DAPA), the leading inspector on fighter purchase, said in a statement.
Lockheed Martin supported South Korea's decision, with a promise to keep options on the table open.
"We will continue to support the U.S. government in its offer of the F-35A to Korea," a representative from Lockheed Martin's South Korean sector said.
But Boeing didn't go down so gracefully. The company said it was disappointed by Seoul's decision, since the corporation spent time and money developing the Silent Eagle variant of the F-15 while simultaneously working to ally with the South Korean market.
"We await details from DAPA on its basis for the delay while evaluating our next move," Boeing said.
In August, a petition was signed by 15 South Korean former air force chiefs that said the selection of the F-15 was an incomplete craft, since the aircraft didn't come equipped with certain stealth means.
