South Korea plans to purchase a dozen helicopters for maritime operations through an open bidding process.  

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration(DAPA) said the decision on the second batch of maritime choppers, which the agency initially planned to buy from a private contractor, was made Monday during a meeting presided over by Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo. 

Accordingly, the competition will be between the AW-159 Wildcat antisubmarine helicopters from Europe-based Leonardo and the MH-60R Seahawk multimission naval helicopters from U.S.-based Lockheed Martin. 

Leonardo, which already sold eight of its helicopters to South Korea, was previously the only company bidding to participate in the country’s latest purchase program. But the U.S. informed South Korea last November of its plan to sell its choppers via the U.S. government’s foreign military sale(FMS) program. 

A DAPA official said the bidding will begin early next month with the winner to be decided this year or early next year.