Peru signs contract with KAI
On 4 July 2024, president Dina Boluarte and Defence Minister Walter Astudillo supervised the signing of the commercial contract between SEMAN Peru and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The object of the contract is to manufacture parts for FA-50 jets.
This comes at the time when talks are underway to obtain up to 24 FA-50s for the air force and this may well pave the way to that deal as well. In fact, local parts assembly may have been a prerequisite for the acquisition.
Peru and the Korean republic have a long-standing cooperation. The Fuerza Aérea del Peru (FAP, Peruvian Air Force) received eight former RoKAF A-37s in February 2010. In 2014, 20 KT-1 Woong Bee were bought, ten KT-1P trainers and ten KA-1P counter-insurgency aircraft. Sixteen of these were manufactured under license by SEMAN in Peru.
Credit photo (just illustrative): YunjaeKim (via jetphotos.com)