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Plans ready to give IDF new firepower

Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) is to be beefed up with strong land-attack and anti-radiation capabilities in a systems upgrade that will start next year, defense sources said yesterday.

The current single-seat and twin-seat versions, models A and B, will be augmented to create two new models, C and D.

The upgraded IDFs are to be equipped with several new weapons systems under development at the military's Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology. These include a fuel-air bomb, an anti-radiation missile and a missile specially designed for attacks on airports.

These systems will greatly improve the combat capabilities of the IDF, which is now armed mainly with air-to-air missiles like the US-made Sidewinder and the Taiwanese Tien Chien I and Tien Chien II missiles. In addition, the new models of the IDF will either get a boost in fuel capacity or an in-flight refueling function.

The new weapons systems are classified as top secret, and the Chung Shan Institute refuses to reveal anything about them.

The upgrade is a seven-year pro-ject code-named "Hsiang Sheng," and will cost NT$7 billion.

The project started two years ago and is jointly handled by the Chung Shan Institute and the state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), the developer of the IDF.

The institute is responsible for developing the new weapons systems and integrating them into the plane, while the AIDC handles the reconfiguration of the IDF to accommodate new flight control, weapons and radar systems.

Over the past two years the focus has been on completing blueprints and specifications for the new IDF models, which might look quite different from models A and B. These preparations are scheduled to be completed this year. Next year will see the implementation of the upgrades.

A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the AIDC will start work on two IDFs on an experimental basis.

"These two IDFs will be the prototypes of the IDF C/D. They are slated to be completed by the end of 2005. Ground and air tests will soon follow," the official said.

"If the prototypes pass all the tests, they will become the models for upgrading IDFs. Only part of the IDF fleet will be upgraded due to budget limitations," he said.

The upgrade project, though proceeding as scheduled, has been boycotted by some lawmakers on the legislature's defense committee, which froze this year's budget for the Hsiang Sheng project for nearly a year.

This year's budget of NT$1 billion was slated to be passed by the defense committee by the end of last year, but it was frozen until now. The budget was eventually approved this week during a closed-door meeting of the defense committee.

The AIDC refused to say who opposed the project and why they were doing so.
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