The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday reconfirmed its NT$110 billion (US$3.52 billion) program to upgrade the nation’s F-16 jets, saying the enhanced aircraft would be able to match China’s Chengdu J-20 fighters.
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) and Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Fan Ta-wei (范大維) said they were “absolutely confident” that the upgraded F-16s could defend the nation’s airspace against China’s newly unveiled J-20s, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying’s (蔡適應) questions about the potential effectiveness of the hefty budget, during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The program is to upgrade the 144 F-16 A/B fleet to F-16V specifications by 2022.
Feng also defended the quality of Apache combat helicopters procured from the US.
“The US has never given anything inferior in its arms sales to Taiwan. It always satisfies our defense needs and would not sell inferior weapons to Taiwan,” he said.
The ministry procured 30 Apache helicopters from the US in 2008 for about NT$63.51 billion, which is being paid in installments, with the ministry originally owing a back payment of about NT$4.9 billion, but the figure was reduced to about NT$6 million in the ministry’s military budget for next year.
The reduction sparked criticism that the ministry had inflated its weapons procurement figures and suspicion that the US delivered inferior aircraft.
The ministry has conducted five meetings with the US, and the US, in a rare exception, agreed to lower the price of the helicopters by NT$4.9 billion, Feng said, adding that the original budget was a provisional prediction.
The ministry is to acquire new trainer jets to be manufactured locally, which excludes the South Korean-built T-50 and the Italian-built M-346 trainers, Feng said in response to DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei’s (邱志偉) question over whether the ministry’s procurement policy would be in line with the government’s policy to develop the defense industry.
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp, which was commissioned to build the XT-5, an advanced trainer jet, will begin to produce prototypes of the aircraft in 2020 and begin mass production in 2023, Feng said.
Feng also confirmed a plan to transfer 15 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters from the Army to the Air Force’s rescue team to replace aging S-70 rescue helicopters.
New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) asked why the Air Force did not have its own budget to replace the aircraft and had to take helicopters from the army.
Feng said that the decision was made to maximizethe use of limited resources during peacetime, and that the S-70 is a civilian version of the Black Hawk so there should be no need to refit the helicopters.
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