A report released yesterday by the US Defense Intelligence Agency that assesses the overall effectiveness of Taiwan’s air defenses has reinforced concerns about the state of Taiwan’s aging fighter squadrons.
An unclassified version of the report seen by the Taipei Times produces a damning indictment of the poor state of many of the Air Force’s jets, raising serious doubts about the nation’s ability to defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack.
“Although Taiwan has nearly 400 combat aircraft in service, far fewer of these are operationally capable,” the report said.
The military’s 60 “F-5 fighters have reached the end of their operational service life,” while the effectiveness of its 56 Mirage 2000 jets has been greatly reduced by high maintenance costs, lack of spare parts and problems with turbine blades, the report said.
The military magazine Defense News reported in August that the assessment was produced after supporters of Taiwan on the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee inserted a requirement for such a report in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act which was passed last July.
At the time, analysts said the purpose of the insertion was to give the US government a timely reminder that the military balance of air power across the Taiwan Strait was now firmly in China’s favor and hopefully prompt it into action on granting Taiwan’s long-held request for 66 advanced F-16C/D fighter jets.
The most recent US$6.4 billion arms sale package to Taiwan announced by US President Barack Obama’s administration last month, however, didn’t mention the F-16s.
“The unclassified version of this report does have some surprising conclusions, though it does not openly promote the sale of new F-16s to Taiwan, it does demonstrate a serious degradation of Taiwan’s air force,” said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief of Defense News.
“The other issue of interest, not cited in the report, is that the window of opportunity for F-16s is closing. As the new F-35 comes on line in the next five years, the production line of F-16s will begin to close. The US will not allow the export of the F-35 to Taiwan for a variety of technological and security reasons,” he said.
“So if Taiwan wants to get F-16s it needs to push as hard as it can now before the window of opportunity closes,” he said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS