South Korean tanker acquisition delayed by 12 months

The introduction of an in-flight refuelling capability for South Korea has reportedly been postponed by some 12 months, following a delay in downselecting one of the three bids for the deal.
A decision on the bids was expected to be made at the end of 2014, ahead of entry to service in 2017, but a decision will now be made in June 2015 and Seoul will now begin fielding the tanker in 2018.
Bidding for four-aircraft deal are Boeing with its 767-based KC-46; Airbus Defence & Space with the Airbus A330 MRTT; and Israel Aerospace Industries with a Boeing 767-300ER-derived tanker transport using second-hand aircraft.
The attributed reason for the delay was offset gaps, but negotiations are expected to begin again in the coming weeks.
However, all four tankers are still expected to be deployed by 2019 – two in 2018 and two in 2019.
The selected type would support and add endurance to ROKAF F-15K, F-16C, TA-50 and future 60 F-35.
flightglobal