As Taiwan's foreign-made fighter planes have crashed one after another in recent years, the domestically built IDF jet stands out as the air force's afest plane, with an unrivaled record of zero crashes since entering service in 1994.
The Aerospace Industrial Devel-opment Corporation (AIDC), the developer of the IDF, is presently systematically upgrading the nation's 124 operational jets.
The IDF upgrade plan, which is code-named the "Lushan Project," formally kicked off last year and will be completed over seven years. The military has allocated a NT$7 billion budget for the project.
The project is aimed at adding ground-attack capabilities and stealth features to the IDF. A number of upgraded IDFs have returned to service this year after being overhauled at the Taichung-based AIDC.
The upgraded version of the IDF is called IDF C/D (C for single-seat and D for twin-seat) in the international weaponry market. The current model of the IDF is the IDF A/B.
All of the IDF C/Ds are to be deployed at an air base in Tainan, while the IDF A/Bs are to remain at their current base at Taichung's Chingchuankang base, a defense official said.
The IDFs are based mainly in Taichung and Tainan, with occasional deployments to the offshore Penghu islands.
Erich Shih (施孝瑋), a senior ed-itor with the Defense International magazine, said the IDF is undoubtedly the safest fighter plane in the air force in comparison with the US-made F-16 and French Mirage 2000-5, which had been involved in seven crashes since 1998.
"The only disadvantage of the IDF is its short range. The upgraded version of the IDF will have ground attack capabilities, but it may not have opportunities to fully realize these capabilities because of its short range," Shih said.
"But if the military really wants to use the IDF C/D against China, the plane may be sufficient if its targets are in the Fujian area only. Fujian is the furthest point that the IDF can reach with enough fuel to return to Taiwan," he said.
The IDF C/D is capable of carrying a variety of weapons for attack against ground or surface targets, ranging from domestically built Hsiung Feng-II anti-ship missiles, fuel bombs, cluster bombs, and Maverick air-to-surface missiles.
Another new feature that is to be introduced to the IDF is stealth flight capabilities, a defense official said.
To turn the IDF into a more stealthy fighter, the military-run Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) is developing a special paint which will absorb radar waves from enemy radar stations, the official said. It is not known whether the CSIST has been succesful in its attempt to develop the special paint.
With its new ground-attack capabilities and potential stealth flight features, the IDF is expected to become a trustworthy multi-role fighter in the future, although it may not be as powerful as the F-16 or Mirage 2000-5, the official said.
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