South Korea receives three F-15K Slam Eagles

South Korea has taken delivery of three more Boeing F-15K Slam Eagles, with the final eight of its 2008 21 aircraft order to be delivered before April 2012.
 
The aircraft departed Boeing's St Louis production facility on 16 August and arrived at Daegu AFB on 20 August, said Boeing.
 
During the transit the aircraft stopped in Palmdale, California, Hickam AFB, Hawaii and Andersen AFB, Guam. Their tail numbers are 51, 52 and 53.
 
In 2010 Boeing delivered six F-15Ks, with a further four arriving in April and May 2011.
 
Under its F-X II requirement South Korea ordered 21 F-15Ks in 2008. The South Korean air force had previously acquired 40 of the two-seat aircraft, before signing a follow-on order in 2008 for the 21 new, Pratt & Whitney F100-229-powered examples.
 
In late July, Seoul's Defence Acquisition Program Administration shortlisted four possible replacements to meet its F-X III upgrade programme requirements: Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle, Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Sukhoi's developmental PAK-FA.
 
Boeing and Lockheed Martin said that they both expect a formal request for proposal for 60 aircraft in early 2012, with deliveries to start in 2016.