US manufacturers Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced foreign deliveries of several C-130Js to Qatar, a C-17 to the United Arab Emirates, and the first Peace Eye 737 airborne early warning and control aircraft to South Korea. The Qatari air force took delivery of a fleet of four stretched C-130Js in a roll-out ceremony Wednesday, becoming the type’s first Middle Eastern operator, announced Lockheed. Boeing delivered the first of four Peace Eye platforms to Gimhae AB, South Korea, on Sept. 21. Korean Aerospace will modify the remaining three Peace Eye aircraft in South Korea for delivery in 2012, according to a Boeing release. In addition to the delivery of UAE’s fourth C-17 from the company’s facility in Long Beach, Calif., on Monday, Boeing announced that Australia wants to purchase a sixth C-17 for its air force. The UAE will receive its two remaining C-17s on order in 2012.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.