As Taiwan awaits Washington’s decision on whether it will sell the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D aircraft Taipei has been seeking since 2007, rumors are now emerging that Taipei’s request for preferred radar system for an upgrade program for its ageing F-16A/Bs might also be encountering difficulties.
The US government is scheduled to announce on Oct. 1 — national day in the People’s Republic of China — whether it will proceed with the sale of 66 F-16C/Ds to Taiwan or limit itself to a US$4.5 billion upgrade for Taiwan’s 144 F-16A/Bs acquired in the early 1990s.
Taiwan does not regard the upgrades as an alternative to the F-16C/Ds and maintains that the two options must be exercised to ensure a balance of air power in the Taiwan Strait.
In addition to new electronic warfare systems, radio, engines and missiles, one key component of the upgrade would be the acquisition of advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a “drop in” modular system regarded as an ideal option to give aging fighter fleets the world over a second life, especially as countries are becoming increasingly reluctant to acquire the problem-plagued F-35.
Aside from nearly doubling the range of the standard mechanically scanned array (MSA) radar currently used on the F-16, AESA radars can operate in all weather and provide multifunction, ultra-high resolution air-to-air and air-to-ground coverage.
However, US officials are divided on whether to provide Taiwan with AESA technology over fears of possible technological transfer to China. One US source recently referred to the AESA program as currently being “off the radar” in Washington, with no movement on an eventual release.
Defense experts nevertheless believe the AESA has a better chance of being released as a consolation prize if the US turns down Taiwan’s request for the F-16C/Ds.
A senior defense industry official involved in the F-16 program confirmed to the Taipei Times at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition yesterday that the Taiwanese Air Force had signaled its intent to Washington to purchase a total of 144 AESA radar units to retrofit all its F-16A/Bs.
The likeliest candidate to provide Taiwan with ASEA radar is Raytheon, with its Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR), with Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) the other option. Both are optimized to fit F-16 aircraft.
If Taiwan failed to obtain AESA radar, an alternative would be less advanced updates to the current ones used on its F-16s.
Speaking at the Paris Air Show in late June, Mark Kula, vice president for tactical airborne systems at Raytheon said the company hoped to have “some sort of go ahead” on a production contract for the RACR “within the year.”
Defense analysts then said the first customer would be either Taiwan or South Korea, which are both seeking to modernize their F-16s.
Drew Robbins, manager of the F-16 radar programs at Raytheon, told the Taipei Times yesterday that the RACR was fully developed and operational and that a number of countries in Asia had expressed interest buying it, though no orders had been placed yet.
He would not provide figures on cost per unit.
Asked if costs or other considerations were behind the apparently stalled efforts to secure AESA radar for Taiwan, officials at Raytheon denied this was the case, adding that the problem was more political and set in Washington.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office has listed six people as suspects in a judicial investigation into a fatal train crash on Friday last week. Fifty people were killed and more than 200 were injured when the Taroko Express No. 408 train slammed into a crane truck that had slid onto the tracks near the entrance of Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林). The office also summoned six officials at the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Hualien Engineering Section for questioning about alleged illegal business operations and unsafe work conditions by Yi Hsiang Industry Co and Tung Hsin Construction Co, the two
SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY IN ASIA: Twitter aims to ‘play a unique role in enabling the public conversation around important social movements,’ the US company said Twitter has thrown its support behind the “Milk Tea Alliance” of democracy movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, defying China at a time when Beijing is punishing Western companies for commenting on what it considers internal matters. The social media company yesterday prominently displayed flags of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Thailand while unveiling an emoji to support democracy advocates in places that have in the past few years seen historic protests and share a love for the beverage. The emoji will automatically show up when users post the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag, which was posted been 11 million times
The navy’s new 10,600-tonne warship is on Tuesday to be christened the ROCN Yushan (玉山), as the nation’s indigenous shipbuilding program reaches a milestone, sources said yesterday. The vessel, previously referred to as the “new landing platform dock,” was at a shipyard with its name freshly painted on the hull with the number 1401, the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday, citing an unnamed observer. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a member of the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the report in a Facebook post. The NT$4.635 billion (US$163 million) ship is designed
TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS: Although analysts welcomed the updated guidance from Washington, Taipei should push back on ‘unnecessary’ restrictions, they said New US guidelines expanding official contacts with Taiwan might be a positive step, but Taipei should still try to break down limits on bilateral interactions that stem from Washington’s “one China” policy, foreign affairs analysts said on Saturday. On Friday, the US Department of State announced that it had issued new guidelines to “liberalize” government contacts with Taiwan, which it said were designed to “encourage engagement ... that reflects our deepening unofficial relationship.” Although not made public, the guidelines would reportedly allow US officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts in US federal buildings and at Taiwanese representative offices in the US,
RSS