Taiwanese air force pilots came very close this year to participating for the first time in a highly realistic and high-intensity combat training exercise in the US, but a last-minute decision by Washington prevented them from doing so over fears of Beijing’s reaction, a defense magazine reports in its current issue.
According to the Chinese-language Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine, Taiwanese F-16 pilots were invited to participate in the RED FLAG 12-4 combat exercise held in July, but after a “careful assessment” by senior White House officials, the US side canceled the invitation over fears of China’s reaction and a potential impact on bilateral ties.
Held at the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Las Vegas, the RED FLAG combat training exercise, which has been held since 1975, involves air forces from the US and its allies.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
The drills are orchestrated by the US 414th Combat Training Squadron and include as many as 1,900 possible targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing “enemy force” that “cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world,” Nellis Air Force Base says on its Web site.
The exercise involves command, control, intelligence and electronic warfare, as well as night missions, and all four branches of the US military take part.
A typical RED FLAG exercise includes fighter, bomber, air superiority, reconnaissance, electronic warfare as well as airlift aircraft.
Over the years, a number of US allies, including South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, the UK, Colombia and Saudi Arabia, have taken part, but Taiwan has yet to join.
Taiwanese officials based in the US have been seeking to increase the level of cooperation between their countries’ armed forces and their efforts were reportedly behind the decision to invite Taiwan to participate in this year’s exercise.
The air force has long hopes its F-16 pilots, who have been receiving training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona since the 1990s, when Taiwan purchased 146 F-16A/Bs from the US, could participate in RED FLAG to test their skills, learn joint concepts and gain precious operational experience.
Despite longstanding defense ties between Taiwan and the US, Beijing strongly opposes joint training between the Taiwanese military and the US or its regional allies. Nevertheless, US military officers often participate as observers during military exercises held in Taiwan.
Citing unnamed insiders, the report said that despite the setback, both sides would continue to work together to secure Taiwan’s participation, adding that the agencies involved were confident that Taiwanese pilots would eventually be able to take part.
To compensate for the absence of Taiwanese pilots, the first Tien Lung exercise was held in Hualien and Taidong from Nov. 10 through Nov. 16, which mirrored the routines performed during RED FLAG, including a “training acceptance test” carried out by all the major fighter wings.
The test required all participating wings to draw lots to decide their simulated enemies before conducting various air combat drills, including day or night target intercepts, joint air-defense operations, air-to-ground and air-sea skills against possible tactics employed by the People’s Liberation Army.
These wings worked in coordination with combat control teams, including ground radar stations and E2K Hawkeye 2000, and air defense units.
In related news, the US Department of Defense announced on Friday that US-based defense contractor Raytheon Corp on Friday had been awarded a US$289,458,942 contract for Taiwan’s Surveillance Radar Program (SRP), in a contract that is expected to be completed by Nov. 8, 2017.
Key to Taiwan’s SRP is the US$1 billion-plus long-range early-warning radar that is being built at Leshan (樂山) in Hsinchu County and which is expected to become operational before the end of this year.
The program drew criticism by some legislators earlier this year after Raytheon requested an additional NT$4 billion (US$137.6 million) for further research-and-development and other associated costs.
Once it becomes operational, the radar — deemed the most powerful on the face of the planet — will give Taiwan an extra 6-minute warning against incoming Chinese missiles.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
TOO TIRED: Investigators found that the pilot’s lack of alertness could be attributed to a lack of sleep the previous night, when he had slept with his child It was a copilot’s inappropriate operation of the aircraft and the pilot’s insufficient alertness that led to a hard landing of a China Airlines cargo flight on Dec. 13, 2018, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. Flight CI6844, a Boeing 747-409 which departed from Hong Kong International Airport, landed on the pre-threshold area of runway L5 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, about 21m before the head of the runway, an investigation report said. The hard landing damaged three runway lights, but none of the personnel on board sustained any injuries, the report said. When approaching the runway, the copilot failed to maintain
DISTRUST WARRANTED? The WHO is under China’s control and has become a useless organization, while data from China cannot be trusted, a Control Yuan member said China’s demand that the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, not be referred to with names like the “Wuhan pneumonia” betrays its lack of confidence in itself, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) asked Su, during a interpellation at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, for his view on China’s attempts to redeem its national image in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included China’s efforts to “bleach” its image, including having WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praise its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, and thanking it for buying time
Taipei residents who stay at hotels in the city during their 14-day mandatory quarantine period are eligible to apply for the city’s NT$7,000 subsidy, with online applications to be launched next week. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said Taipei residents who have COVID-19 Health Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice dated after March 19 and a quarantine hotel receipt for the dates covered by the quarantine period, would be eligible for the subsidy. The Taipei City Government on Sunday told the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) that so many city residents are under home quarantine that about 90 percent of
REPEAT OFFENDER: The man went outside for exercise on Wednesday and then left his home on Saturday with his girlfriend, officials said A New Taipei City man has been fined NT$400,000 (US$13,221) and ordered into government quarantine after breaking home quarantine for a second time on Saturday. The 25-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳) returned to Taiwan on Sunday last week and was ordered to home quarantine until Sunday. He was seen leaving his home on a scooter with his girlfriend on Saturday, three days after he was fined NT$200,000 for going outside to exercise, police said. Chen has now been placed in a quarantine center arranged by the district office and health center of the district where he lives, police said. Police warned the public
RSS