What a great news for Airbus !
SEOUL—Airbus GroupNV and Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. have signed a contract valued at $10 billion over a decade for the development and production of military and civil helicopters in South Korea.
Korea Aerospace and the European aircraft giant signed an agreement Monday to jointly build at least 300 helicopters for civil and military use, a spokeswoman for the Korean company said.
The deal could have a value of $10 billion over 10 years shared equally between the Korean company that will serve as the prime contractor and Airbus Helicopters, a unit of the European group, according to a person familiar with the situation.
South Korea has been working on the development of the country’s next-generation light civilian and military helicopters for several years and considered partnering with U.S. and other European rotorcraft makers.
The deal would include co-production of at least 200 armed military choppers and another 100 for civilian use. Both designs are based on the EC155 helicopter.
The project is aimed in part at replacing Korea’s aging fleet of 500MD and AH-1S Cobra military helicopters.
Korea Aerospace said it would sign a supply contract with South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration later this month.
The Korean aircraft maker was picked in July by the government to develop advanced light helicopters and has held exclusive negotiations with Airbus, which outbid other contenders, including Bell Helicopter, a unit of U.S. conglomerate Textron Inc.
In its statement in July, Korea Aerospace said it aims to produce and sell a total of 1,000 units of the next-generation light helicopter, including 600 for export. It didn’t provide a time frame.
—Robert Wall in London contributed to this article.
Airbus, Korea Aerospace Sign Helicopter Deal - WSJ
SEOUL—Airbus GroupNV and Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. have signed a contract valued at $10 billion over a decade for the development and production of military and civil helicopters in South Korea.
Korea Aerospace and the European aircraft giant signed an agreement Monday to jointly build at least 300 helicopters for civil and military use, a spokeswoman for the Korean company said.
The deal could have a value of $10 billion over 10 years shared equally between the Korean company that will serve as the prime contractor and Airbus Helicopters, a unit of the European group, according to a person familiar with the situation.
South Korea has been working on the development of the country’s next-generation light civilian and military helicopters for several years and considered partnering with U.S. and other European rotorcraft makers.
The deal would include co-production of at least 200 armed military choppers and another 100 for civilian use. Both designs are based on the EC155 helicopter.
The project is aimed in part at replacing Korea’s aging fleet of 500MD and AH-1S Cobra military helicopters.
Korea Aerospace said it would sign a supply contract with South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration later this month.
The Korean aircraft maker was picked in July by the government to develop advanced light helicopters and has held exclusive negotiations with Airbus, which outbid other contenders, including Bell Helicopter, a unit of U.S. conglomerate Textron Inc.
In its statement in July, Korea Aerospace said it aims to produce and sell a total of 1,000 units of the next-generation light helicopter, including 600 for export. It didn’t provide a time frame.
—Robert Wall in London contributed to this article.
Airbus, Korea Aerospace Sign Helicopter Deal - WSJ
