South Korea Moving Closer To Lockheed F-16 Deal

South Korean officials are expected to approve a plan this week paving the way for Lockheed Martin to take over its F-16 upgrade program.
A Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) spokesman said his agency is scheduling a top decision-making council Nov. 19 to approve a plan to change the KF-16 partner company, following cancellation of a $1.7 billion BAE Systems contract to give 134 KF-16 fighters new avionics and radar systems.
A pair of KF-16 C/D Block 52 jets has already been sent to a BAE factory in Fort Worth, Texas, to be equipped with an up-to-date mission computer, cockpit-display and other avionics systems. Phase 2 of the upgrades would have involved the integration of the Raytheon active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, ALR-69A all-digital radar warning receiver and weapon systems integration.
A new Lockheed contract would likely fill similar needs, but may swap out Raytheon’s AESA for Northrop Grumman’s model. Lockheed selected Northrop to provide radars on its contract to upgrade Taiwan’s F-16 fleet.
defensenews

Republic of Korea Terminate KF-16 Upgrade Contract with BAE

On November 5, 2014, at the request of the Government of the Republic of Korea, the U.S. Government notified BAE Systems, that it would terminate for convenience a contract with BAE for initial development and long lead production in support of the Republic of Korea KF-16 fighter aircraft upgrade. This contract was the first of a two-phase Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procurement for the upgrade of 134 KF-16s. The U.S. Government will work with BAE to close out the contract.
dsca.mil