A fighter plane being developed by the state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) that is years behind in its development and has lost the interest of its only potential buyer was test-flown for the first time last week, the AIDC said yesterday.
Wednesday's test flight of the Tiger 2000 prototype, an upgraded version of the US-made F-5E fighter, was a success, according to its makers.
The prototype will be test-flown several more times starting in the middle of next month, the AIDC said.
The Tiger 2000 prototype took off from CCK Air Base near Taichung at 3:10pm on Wednesday.
Retired air force pilot Wu Kang-ming (
Wu was also the first to test fly the prototype of the domestically-built Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) in 1989.
"The test results were satisfactory," an official with the AIDC said.
"But more tests are needed to make sure that the capabilities of the plane will be as good and reliable as expected."
Although the test flight was a big step in the development of the Tiger 2000, the AIDC official said, it is not known whether the plane will go into production as initially planned.
"The test-flight of the prototype of the Tiger 2000 was conducted in the absence of the company's leader, Huang Jung-teh (黃榮德), an ex-deputy chief of the air force," the official said.
"We have yet to find out how Huang will handle the Tiger 2000 project. We can not be sure whether the project will continue, or end with the flight tests," he said.
The uncertainty stems from lack of interest in the plane shown by the air force, the only potential buyer of the Tiger 2000.
The air force originally intended to buy the plane, which was named after the year in which its development was scheduled to be completed.
But now the air force is planning to replace the Tiger 2000 purchase plan with another upgraded version of the F-5E that is cheaper and takes less time to build, sources said.
The fighter the air force is looking at would be largely the same as the original F-5E but with a modern radar system installed.
In comparison, the Tiger 2000 is much more difficult to construct since it requires a complete renewal of the plane's avionics and fire-control system.
The Tiger 2000 was aimed as an equivalent to the IDF, capable of carrying and firing the locally-developed medium-range Tien Chien-II air-to-air missile.
But the project, which originally seemed straightforward for the AIDC following its experience in developing the IDF, turned out to be a nightmare for the company.
The AIDC has spent the past four years overcoming problems in replacing the plane's complicated wiring systems and fixing the plane's engine.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by