S. Korea Short-Lists Bidders for Helicopter Project

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, SEOUL

South Korea on July 9 short-listed three foreign bidders for the country’s multi-billion-dollar defense project to develop and manufacture military helicopters, the defense ministry said.

U.S. helicopter builder Bell and two European-based joint ventures — Eurocopter of France and Germany, and Augusta Westland of Britain and Italy — were selected as preferred negotiators among nine bidders, the ministry said.

“The government plans to choose a single winning bidder from the three short-listed bidders by mid-September this year,” said Shin Geoung-Ja of the ministry spokesman’s office.

South Korea wants to develop transport helicopters by 2010 and attack helicopters by 2012 with a foreign partner under the 10-trillion-won ($8.6 billion) project, defense officials said.

Some 500 new helicopters are to be built to replace South Korea’s aging helicopter fleet and to revive the country’s aerospace industry under the KMH (Korea Multipurpose Helicopter) project, they said.

To be replaced are U.S.-designed helicopters such as the Bell UH-1H and AH-1S series that South Korea introduced in the 1970s.

In the bidding, U.S manufacturers Boeing and Sikorsky were left behind by the other contenders in assessments based on technology transfer, building cost and bidding price, the officials said.