Updated at 1.25pm:
South
Korea's military will receive new price offers from US and other global
aircraft makers next week for its multibillion dollar project to buy 40
new fighter jets by 2008, officials said on Tuesday.
The rebidding, set for next Tuesday, was called after the first price
offers, made on Monday, failed to ''come within our target price,'' said
Chae Woo-seok, deputy chief of the Defence Ministry's Defence Procurement
Agency.
The budget earmarked for the project is estimated at 4 trillion won
(about HK$23 billion).
Competing for the project are US company Boeing's F-15E, the Russian
government's Sukhoi Su-35, French company Dassault's Rafale and the
European consortium Eurofighter's Typhoon.
The Defence Ministry hopes to choose the successful bidder by the end
of March.
The ministry has said that price and potential maintenance costs are
the biggest selection criteria. Other factors include performance
capabilities and the builder's transfer of technology to the South Korean
military.
South Korea has bought most of its weapons from the United States.
About 37,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against
communist North
Korea.
