Republic of Korea Selects Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II for $6.8 billion.

The Republic of Korea has formally announced its decision to procure the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft for its F-X fighter acquisition program. 40 aircraft are about to bought for 7.34 trillion won ($6.79 billion).

South Korea says the F-35 deal will be finalized in the third quarter, with the first delivery in 2018. The budget has received the final approval of the finance ministry, Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) spokesman Baek Youn-hyeong said.

The program also currently includes participation from three U.S. military service branches and eight international partner countries. Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the A-10 and F-16 for the U.S. Air Force, the F/A-18 for the U.S. Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the U.S. Marine Corps, and a variety of fighter aircraft for at least 10 other countries.

The announcement provided some good news for Lockheed after a spate of critical reports on challenges with software development for the fighter, the emergence of additional bulkhead cracks during long-term durability testing, and news that Italy could further scale back its plans to buy 90 F-35s.