, The United Arab Emirates has chosen Korea's T-50 supersonic jet trainer as one of three candidates for its project of next-generation advanced jet trainers, government officials said Wednesday (Feb. 21).
Italy's Aermacchi M-346 and Britain's BAE Systems Hawk 128 have been also picked by the UAE military as preferred bidders, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
The Middle East country plans to make a final selection out of the three by the end of the year.
Seoul has aggressively pitched its T-50 advanced jet trainer to the UAE. Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Young-ju was on hand for the opening ceremony of a defense fair held in Abu Dhabi on Sunday to drum up support for the supersonic jet.
The T-50 Golden Eagle jet, built by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), is locked in a close race with Italian aircraft to secure an order from the UAE armed forces, ministry officials earlier said.
If KAI wins the contract, it will be the first export of a jet aircraft for the country. Up until now, the country has exported prop aircraft such as the KT-1 military basic trainer and the Firefly, a small canard wing passenger aircraft.
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