The jet is one of the most expensive fighter aircraft on the market and the costliest weapons program in US history.
Citing government sources in Seoul, JoongAng Ilbo explained that the South Korea Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has established the procedure for buying the aircraft, which generally involves marshalling the funds to pay Lockheed Martin and the subcontractors that produce the fifth-generation stealth jet.
The F-35A's stealth capability is necessary for Seoul's contingency war plans to attack major facilities in North Korea, the newspaper said.
"The president and I have agreed. They'll be buying a tremendous [amount of military equipment] — which they want and which they need, and everybody thinks it makes a lot of sense. We make the best military equipment in the world. Whether it's planes, whether it's missiles, no matter what it is… South Korea will be ordering billions of that equipment," US President Donald Trump told reporters during a state visit to South Korea in early November.
In 2014, Seoul ordered 40 export-variant F-35s for an estimated $6.7 billion.
