Seoul Signs $4-Billion Deal for McDonnell Fighter Jets

The South Korean government said Wednesday that it has picked the F/A-18 Hornet developed by McDonnell Douglas Corp. as the model for South Korea’s next generation of jet fighter planes in a deal worth about $4.2 billion.

Defense Minister Lee Sang Hoon said the F/A-18 was picked over the F-16 Falcon made by General Dynamics Corp. after South Korean military experts determined that the F/A-18s have greater firepower and are better suited to the Korean situation, in which South Korea faces Communist North Korea’s air power superiority.

The Hornet’s superior mobility also was a factor in the decision because of the mountainous nature of the Korean peninsula, Lee said.

The F/A-18 is McDonnell Douglas’ latest generation of dual-role aircraft. The single-seat F/A-18 can function as a fighter plane and as an attack aircraft, McDonnell Douglas officials said.

Under an agreement with the United States, yet to be finalized, South Korea would purchase 12 F/A-18s built entirely in the United States for about $35 million each, assemble 36 of the jets with imported parts and build 72 more in South Korea under a licensing arrangement with McDonnell Douglas.

Although McDonnell spokesman Thomas Downey called South Korea’s order “significant” in size, he said it is unlikely that the aerospace firm would hire additional employees to build the aircraft for South Korea. Downy said about 7,500 employees, most in St. Louis, work on the F/A-18 program.

South Korea’s order of F/A-18s would be the third largest in the history of the program after those of the United States, 1,157, and Canada, 138, McDonnell officials said.

Lee said the F/A-18 is superior to the Soviet-built MIG-29 and matches the efficiency of the MIG-31, the latest in the Soviet air force’s inventory.