photo©KAI South Korean Aerospace major, Korea Aerospace Industries, has signed a contract with Iraq for exporting 24 T-50 light strike ...
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| photo©KAI |
The deal valued at $1.1 billion was announced on the 12th December and also includes training for Iraqi pilots.
The signing ceremony was made with KAI's President and CEO, Ha Sung-yong, Defense Acquisition Program Administration's Administrator, Lee Young-geol and the ROKAF deputy chief of staff, Kim Hyung-chol as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in attendance.
Following the contract, KAI will be entitled to supply its follow-on supports to Iraq Air Force for over two decades. The combined amount of export would reach more than $2 billion. The Iraqi version, dubbed the T-50 IQ, will be armed with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, machine guns and precision-guided bombs.
In April 2011, KAI introduced the T-50-variant aircraft to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his visit to Korea and set out on marketing campaigns for those trainer airplanes. After July of the same year, the company started to enter negotiations with Iraq in earnest.
KAI won the deal by defeating the British BAe Hawk-128, Russian Yak-130 and Czech L-159 trainers.
The T-50 Golden Eagle is a family of South Korean supersonic advanced trainers and multirole light fighters, developed by KAI with Lockheed Martin.
