State Department approves $5 billion sale of F-35 aircraft to South Korea

The US State Department has approved a possible $5.06 billion sale of F-35 aircraft and related equipment to South Korea. should from a message from the Pentagon Security Cooperation Agency.

The South Korean government plans to buy up to 25 conventional takeoff and landing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, as well as 26 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines and other equipment necessary for the fighters to operate. The contractors will be Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Texas and Pratt & Whitney Military Engines of Connecticut.

The deal will improve the security of an important US ally that is a “driving force for political stability” in the Indo-Pacific region, the agency said in a statement. If supplied with aircraft that are already in service with South Korea, this will improve the republic’s ability to deter aggression in the region and increase its ability to defend itself.

The US State Department also approved sale to the Polish government of support for F-16 aircraft and related equipment. The estimated value of the transaction is $389 million.

September 3 The Jerusalem Post reportedthat Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant sent an official request to the United States for the supply of a third squadron of F-35 aircraft. The total number of F-35s in the republic’s fleet, according to the newspaper, will thus increase to 75. The cost of the transaction could be $3 billion. Israel, as Reuters previously wrote, became the first country outside the United States to acquire the F-35.