As part of the government’s program to develop an indigenous defense industry, the Ministry of National Defense said it would complete the upgrade of four F-16 jets next year, making the nation the first to have a fleet of F-16Vs, while the navy is to tender offers for submarine designs from local companies.
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) is to begin retrofitting the air force’s F-16A/Bs on Jan. 16, and the first four F-16Vs, an upgraded variant of the F-16A/B, would be completed next year, Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Fan Ta-wei (范大維) said yesterday at a budget review held by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
AIDC would complete the upgrade of between 25 and 28 F-16s every year and the air force’s 144 F-16s — including 10 F-16s stationed at a US base — would be completely upgraded by 2023, Fan said.
The air force’s NT$110 billion (US$3.45 billion) Phoenix Rising Project aims to upgrade the F-16A/B fleet to F-16V specification by 2022.
The contracts were awarded to US firm Lockheed Martin Corp, the original producer of the F-16, and AIDC.
The nation lost one F-16A/B in January when it crashed at a US base during a routine training mission, killing the pilot, Major Kao Ting-cheng (高鼎程).
Two F-16s are currently being upgraded by Lockheed Martin in the US and have been fitted with active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire-control radar developed for the air force.
The company has completed the first flight of an F-16V equipped with the AESA radar that is able to detect stealth aircraft.
Lockheed Martin is also to oversee the retrofit project being carried out by AIDC in Taiwan.
Lockheed Martin’s work on the upgrade project is ahead of schedule, allowing AIDC to begin its project sooner than expected, Fan said.
In related news, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) said the navy on Tuesday is to launch an open tender for the design of a new submarine as the first step toward developing indigenous submarines.
“Only local contractors may join the tender,” Mei said, and the navy plans to sign a contract with the winner next month.
The contractor has to finish the design in three years and it would take an estimated five years to build a prototype, so the first submarine is expected to be delivered in 2024 and put into service by 2025 at the earliest, Mei said.
The navy requested a budget of NT$2.97 billion for the design phase, of which NT$790 million was to be spent in the next fiscal year, but the committee cut the budget by NT$150 million and froze another NT$50 million.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
RSS