Korean Air on Tuesday made its first delivery of a rewired U.S. fighter plane from its Busan Tech Center under a $400 million order it won from the U.S. Air Force last September.

Under the deal, Korean Air will work on 60 F-15 fighters stationed in the Pacific region by 2016, replacing their tail wings and re-wiring them in line with the U.S. military’s project to improve its combat strength. Korean Air will also carry out maintenance work.

The airliner said it replaced some 15,000 Kepton wires used in the F-15 with more elastic Teflon wires and ran tests to make sure all systems work perfectly.

The rewired F-15 fighter delivered on Tuesday also went through depot maintenance, according to Korean Air.

U.S. Department of Defense officials in charge of the contract management and the F-15 operating troops attended the delivery ceremony on Tuesday at the Busan Tech Center.

Korean Air, which provides the only a consolidated maintenance depot for military aircraft in the Asia Pacific region, has repaired some 530 F-15 fighter jets belonging to the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy since 1983.

Starting with the production of military aircraft such as the F-5 E/F, 500MD and Uh-60 helicopters, Korean Air has accumulated technologies for the production of helicopters and unmanned aircraft since 1976.

The company has expanded to the production of commercial aircraft components since 1986 and has supplied airplane bodies and wings to global aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)