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Military shows off upgraded fighters

President Chen Shui-bian gives the thumbs-up as he sits inside an upgraded Taiwanese-made Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jet in Taichung yesterday. Chen is accompanied by Vice President Annette Lu, second right, and Aerospace Industrial Development Corp general manager Feng Shih-kuan, right. PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES

The military unveiled an upgraded version of its locally produced indigenous defense fighter (IDF) warplane yesterday, to help boost the nation's defenses against China until Taipei can purchase more modern fighter planes from the West.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) presided over the ceremony yesterday at the Chingchuankang Airbase in Taichung.

Referring to the modified Indigenous Defense Fighter-II (IDF-II) "Hsiung Ying" (雄鷹, or "Goshawk"), Chen said he hoped the new model would protect the homeland with the ferocity of a Taiwan goshawk.

Chen watched a demonstration flight of two jets and later on inspected one on the ground. He praised the aircraft's development, but again urged the Legislative Yuan to hasten the approval of a billion-dollar arms budget to buy 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft, eight diesel submarines and six PAC-III anti-missile batteries from the US.

`A pity'

"It is a great pity that the three arms-purchase plans have not yet been passed by the legislature," he said. "National security should transcend party politics."

The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) spent NT$7 billion (US$200 million) and seven years upgrading the IDFs that it manufactured between 1981 and 1999, with help from the US.

The project was approved by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the budgets were earmarked by the Democratic Progressive Party administration, beginning in 2001.

The IDF was named "Ching-kuo" (經國) after Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), late president and son of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). It has been upgraded to improve its combat-capabilities against Chinese forces.

Modifications

The modifications included improving the jet's flight control system and cockpit, enlarging the fuel tanks and equipping the planes with the capacity to carry air-to-air missiles and anti-radiation missiles.

The Air Force's fleet now consists of 130 IDFs, 150 US-made F-16A/Bs and 60 French-built Mirage 2000-5s. Taiwan is also seeking to buy 66 F-16C/Ds.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who accompanied Chen to the test flight and naming ceremony at the AIDC in Taichung County yesterday morning, mistakenly referred to the new model as the "Taiwan bald eagle."

Noticing her blunder, the vice president then corrected herself and said that the right name, Hsiung Ying, was the combination of "Ying Hsiung" (英雄, hero) and "goshawk" (蒼鷹).

Saying that government policies should continue regardless of which party is in power, Chen yesterday urged opposition parties to stop letting politics get in the way of the passage of government budgets and bills in the legislature because of upcoming elections.

"I hereby call on the opposition parties to refrain from hindering the government from serving the nation," he said. "I also hope that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) can use his political influence to help pass the government budget as well as bills for the benefit of the people and the country."

Jeopardy

"It is beyond comprehension that in a normal democracy, government budgets are still bogged down in the legislature at the end of March," he said. "As long as the budget doesn't pass the legislature, national development and the welfare of the people will be in grave jeopardy."

Citing the example of the IDF upgrade project, Chen said that his administration did not overturn the project nor discount the budgets, even though the project had been approved by the former administration.
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