Major upgrades to Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jets are under threat from US government budget cuts, according to recent reports.
If plans to replace the avionics and radars in the 146 F-16A/B jets do not go ahead, it could deal a huge blow to the nation’s defenses.
According to reports published in Defense News and on the Internet, the US Air Force (USAF) is cutting the Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) from the Pentagon’s budget for next year, which is scheduled to be released on March 4.
US Department of Defense officials reached by the Taipei Times refused to confirm or deny the reports.
While Taiwan may still be able to go ahead on its own and fund the upgrades — currently priced at about US$5.3 billion — the costs would be much greater and perhaps prohibitive without US participation.
With Taiwan already making drastic military cuts, its economy struggling and with billions of dollars in US arms purchases outstanding, Taipei may not be able to afford it.
US President Barack Obama promised the upgrades in 2011 after he turned down Taipei’s repeated requests to buy more advanced F-16C/D jets.
There was a great deal of publicity about the upgrades at the time, with Washington experts touting them as a way for Taipei to maintain a credible defense to deter or at least slow down a possible Chinese invasion of the nation until US forces could reach the scene.
Without the upgrades, the nation’s aging air force fleet will have very limited stopping power.
Defense News called the development “potentially devastating” for Taiwan and quoted one expert as saying it has created a “crisis.”
The publication also quoted Ed Ross, president of the Virginia-based EWRoss International consulting firm, as saying: “With no new F-16C/Ds approved for Taiwan, its Air Force is up a creek with not much of a paddle and I’m not sure there is anyone in the Obama administration that gives much of a damn.”
The US Air Force had originally planned to upgrade 300 F-16s under the CAPES program and the economy of scale would have thus reduced the costs for upgrading Taiwan’s fighters.
Under the upgrade program, Taiwan’s F-16s were to receive Northrop Grumman scalable agile beam radar, which would give them an enormous advantage in combat.
Taiwan could now try to join South Korea or Singapore in less attractive upgrade programs or plead again with Obama to sell F-16C/Ds.
However, pressure from Beijing is almost certain to stop a sale of the more advanced jets.
Defense News said that “multiple sources” had told them the CAPES program was being dropped to make funds available for an F-16 service life extension program.
This is terrible news for the balance of power in the East China Sea,” a defense industry site said. “With this decision, China no longer has to worry about hundreds of F-16s with advanced radar, mission computers and EW [electronic warfare] sensors in the potential East China Sea conflict, as none of the USAF and ROCAF [Republic of China Air Force] F-16s would pose a threat to China’s advanced fighter types operating in the area.”
“For the first time, China would gain an upper hand over the US-Japan-Taiwan in the East China Sea,” the Web site added.
Losing the F-16 upgrade could be “grave” for Taiwan, said Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
However, he told the Taipei Times that it was still possible that the program could survive or that it may just be delayed.
“It would be a travesty — especially during the 35th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act — to allow Taiwan’s fighter upgrade program to become a casualty of American budget politics,” he said.
Fisher said that if the Pentagon dropped the program, it would undermine Washington’s credibility in Taipei, as well as erode other US alliances in Asia.
“After several years of testing, China has recently started producing the Chengdu J-10B for Chinese Air Force units,” he said.
The J-10B likely has an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, which is the same kind of technology that was meant to be added to Taiwan’s F-16A fighters, Fisher said.
AESA radar systems are also likely to be used by Shenyang’s new J-16 twin-seat strike fighter and by future versions of the Shenyang J-15 aircraft carrier fighter, he said, adding that an AESA radar-equipped fighter would have a decisive advantage.
If the F-16 upgrade program fails, the US should encourage and help Taiwan to establish new missile programs, Fisher said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia