MANILA - The Philippines is to acquire a squadron of FA-50 fighters from South Korea in a deal worth $422 million (18.9 billion pesos), a senior Philippine defence official said on Friday, boosting its capability as tension simmers in the South China Sea.

Fernando Manalo, undersecretary of defence for finance, munitions, installations and materiel, said the government had reached an agreement with Korean Aerospace Industries Ltd.

for 12 of the aircraft and would sign a contract before March 15.

"This is a very important project together with the frigate of the navy because of our objective of building a minimum credible defence," Manalo told reporters.

The Philippines has embarked on a five-year, 75 billion-pesos ($1.68 billion) modernisation programme to improve its capability to defend its maritime borders.

Manalo said a team from South Korea came to the Philippines to negotiate the aircraft deal, agreeing to reduce by $500,000 the cost of spare parts and accepting a 15 percent downpayment from the government.

South Korea agreed to deliver the first two aircraft 18 months after the contract signing next month.

The Philippines has had no fighter capability since it mothballed all of its F-5A/Bs in the early 2000s. ($1 = 44.7575 Philippine pesos)