L3Harris Technologies has won an almost 4 trillion won (AUD$4.3 billion) contract to supply airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to South Korea, according to a statement released by that nation’s arms procurement agency on Tuesday.
The decision will see the American firm deliver four Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft fitted with Isreali IAI-ELTA EL/W 2085 multi-band radar system, with Korea Air responsible for modifying the final two aircraft and leading “in-country sustainment of the program”, according to an L3Harris statement.
The decision on the new platforms, which will replace South Korea’s fleet of four Boeing E-737 Peace Eye AEW&C aircraft, came on the back of series of retenders, during which L3Harris bid faced off against Boeing’s E-7 and Saab’s GlobalEye, with reports of interest from US aerospace company Sierra Nevada. The final tender featured a two-way runoff between L3Harris and Saab, after several Korean reports stating that Boeing had withdrawn its bid on account of “price burdens”.
Announcing the final winner, DAPA stated: “Performance evaluations for the two platforms were not substantially different. L3Harris scored highly on operational suitability, the contribution of domestic defence [firms] and operational maintenance costs, while Saab scored well in terms of contract terms and acquisition costs. When the scores were aggregated, L3Harris came out on top.”
The three bids
Each of the three companies embarked on aggressive campaigns to secure the high-value deal.
Boeing, whose bid was widely reported to be the most expensive of the three, emphasised the suitability of its platform to advance US-Korea interoperability, as well as the E-7’s advantages in terms of long range, strengths in multi-domain surveillance communications, and networked battle management capabilities.
Saab emphasised that its active and passive sensor package allows its platform to locate and identify latent threats at an earlier stage than many other platforms, facilitating information superiority. It also advertised its price competitiveness which pledged to expedite delivery.
In October 2024 Saab also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for industrial cooperation and technology transfer in relation to the AEW&C acquisition. Markus Borgljung, Vice President of Saab’s Business Area Surveillance, said the deal “will increase critical radar technology competence, and create domestic capability and self-sustainability to secure strategic independence for the Republic of Korea in the airborne surveillance segment.”
Technology transfer and pledges to develop Korea’s sovereign production capacity were similarly a key component of L3Harris’ bid, which pledged that its platforms will be “Korean owned, Korean made and Korean maintained.”
In a December 2023 statement the company stated that “Sustainment, obsolescence management and integration of future capability upgrades [for the AEW&C platforms] will be Korean industry-led,” and that L3Harris would support the development of Korea’s capacity for “independent domestic research and development and fostering excellence in aircraft system integration, upgrades, and modifications.”
Delays, leaks and controversies
The extended tender process, which included three rounds of retendering, was marked by lengthy delays, criticism by industry figures, and a series of press leaks.
The causes for the failure of the first three bids were the subject of widespread speculation in Korean language press, with reasons cited including bidders’ failures to submit Korean language documents and specified credit appraisal documents, inadequate test and evaluation scheduling, and disputes over the project’s budget and proposed payment schedule.
Both the timing (coinciding with the 117th Defense Acquisition Program Promotion Committee) and ultimate outcome of the final bid were furthermore first reported by Korea’s SBS News on September 25 (Thursday), prior to any official statement from DAPA.
On September 26 DAPA released a statement condemning speculative reporting on the acquisition, including false claims in the SBS article that the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) had opposed the decision to award the contract to L3Harris due to concerns in relation to the “reliability” and “safety” of the Global 6500.
It also affirmed that both platforms met military requirements – rebuffing claims in the SBS report that Saab’s Erieye Extended Range radar’s field of view (“detection angles”) was insufficient for Korea’s needs.
Addressing intimations in Korean reports that the decision may have been influence by pressure from the United States, DAPA reinforced that the evaluation process strictly followed procedures and regulations, and that “no political factors were considered in the evaluation process.”