A Taiwanese aviation firm and a US defense contractor have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signaling the official start of a strategic partnership on aircraft refitting projects and component manufacturing.
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) announced yesterday it had signed the MOU with Lockheed Martin Corp on Wednesday at the week-long 2012 International Air Show in Farnborough, in the UK.
AIDC president Butch Hsu (徐延年) and Lockheed Martin vice president of international business development Ana Wugofski signed the document expanding the strategic relationship and promoting the joint exploration of opportunities for both companies in an upgrade program for Taiwan’s 146 F-16A/Bs.
Photo courtesy of AIDC
Although the US government turned down Taiwan’s request for 66 F-16C/Ds in September last year, US President Barack Obama notified Congress of a US$5.8 billion retrofit package for Taiwan’s aging fleet of F-16A/Bs.
According to AIDC spokesperson Mike Lee (李適彰), as Lockheed Martin is the original producer of the F-16s, signing the MOU would allow the retrofitting project to be held in Taiwan, provided Lockheed Martin won the bid to oversee the retrofit project.
Only one other company, BAE Systems, has the capability to perform the upgrades on the F-16s, but it does not appear to have been considered for the program.
If the retrofit project could be done in Taiwan, it would create a lot of jobs, Lee said.
Lockheed Martin has sent personnel to evaluate the company and said AIDC “is the only aerospace company in Taiwan” that possessed the technology and capacity requirements for the retrofit project, Lee said.
Founded in 1969, AIDC is a state-owned corporation that is capable of airplane design, research and development, systems integration, production, maintenance, logistic support and upgrades to airplane systems. Its has partnerships in seven countries and with 19 international aerospace corporations.
Vice president and deputy for F-16/F-2/T-50 programs at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Roderick McLean said on Wednesday that AIDC was capable and that Lockheed was “confident this collaboration effort will position both of our companies to better support our Taiwan customer.”
Meanwhile, Hsu said that as the retrofit package exceeded all past operational capability upgrade packages, it was a significant milestone for AIDC to work with Lockheed on the project.
“We cherish the foundation of mutual trust developed with our most important partner and we are confident that our joint efforts would be able to satisfy the Republic of China Air Force’s requirements for quality, timely delivery and acceptable price,” Hsu said.
Commenting on the necessity of setting up maintenance hangars and joint component manufacturing, AIDC said it was trying to enlist the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
“In accordance with the Ministry of National Defense’s policy of downsizing the military and promoting voluntary military service, we hope to combine the efforts of affiliated domestic industries and build a world-class F-16 maintenance center in Taiwan with the aid of Lockheed Martin, so as to elevate Taiwan’s ability to conduct its own repairs,” Hsu said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS