03 Sep 04. outh Korea has chosen Boeing Co. and Israel Aircraft Industries as final bidders for a US$1.7bn (€.4bn) plan to supply four airborne warning planes, the Defense Ministry said.
The ministry is expected to conduct tests on Boeing’s B-737 plane and the G-550 plane of IAI and will negotiate with both companies on their AWACS systems until the end of this year, the ministry said in a statement released Thursday.
The ministry has been reviewing proposals from both Boeing and IAI since June and is expected to make a final decision on the deal by November, according to the statement. If selected, four AWAC planes will be shipped to the South Korean Air Force in 2009 and 2011.South Korea has been considering the purchase of an airborne observation system since the mid-1990s. South Korea, along with major ally the United States, is trying to persuade communist North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.