GE Aviation to sell fighter-jet engines to S. Korea
GE Aviation Thursday won major new business, as South Korea selected the GE F414 engine for its next-generation fighter jets. The Evendale-based arm of GE beat out Eurojet to be the preferred bidder for the South Koreans.
The Korean KF-X fighters jets are expected to be deployed starting in the mid-2020s, according to Bloomberg News.
A GE Aviation spokesman said he wasn’t able to put a dollar value on the selection because it would depend on how many KF-Xs are produced. But the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and TheStreet.com either quoted unnamed sources or estimated the sale would be worth $3.5 billion.
GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy did call the announcement by South Korea “a very significant long-term win for GE, and another vital application for our F414 fighter jet engine. With the reduction in U.S. military aircraft procurement in recent years, it is critical for GE to continue to win new applications for our fighter jet engines around the world.”
