Korea has selected British defense firm BAE Systems Inc. for a 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) project to upgrade the country's aging KF-16 fighter jets, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday.

The multi-year project calls for upgrading a total of 134 KF-16 fighters by improving mission computers and operating systems with the latest versions and by replacing current radars with active electronically scanned array, also known as AESA, to double the detection range by 2021, according to the Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA).

The U.S. branch of BAE Systems competed with American defense giant Lockheed Martin to win the deal under a foreign military sales program with lower bid prices, the DAPA said.

The DAPA said it will send a letter of request to the U.S. government and sign the contract later this year. (Yonhap)