The US is looking for ways to accelerate delivery of Taiwan’s next generation of newly built F-16 jets, US officials said, bolstering the Taiwanese air force’s ability to respond to what Taipei and Washington see as increasing intimidation by the Chinese military.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they have not yet come up with a solution on how to speed up delivery of Block 70 F-16s, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp and equipped with new capabilities.
The aircraft are slated to be delivered by the end of 2026.
Photo: Patrick Lin, REUTERS
Taipei has privately expressed its wish for a faster delivery to US President Joe Biden’s administration, a senior Taiwanese official said, as the nation’s air force scrambles jets to intercept increasingly aggressive Chinese military flights.
“It’s all about risk assessment ... and it’s clear where the risks are,” the Taiwanese official said, referring to tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The F-16 is considered a highly maneuverable aircraft proven in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack.
Taiwan is on track to field one of the largest F-16 fleets in Asia once it takes delivery of 66 newly built F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft under an US$8 billion deal approved in 2019.
It would bring the nation’s total number of F-16s, including older versions, to more than 200 by 2026.
Any move to accelerate deliveries of new aircraft could ultimately come down to a determination by Biden’s administration that Taiwan’s defense needs are more urgent than those of other US allies and partners, experts say.
“That’s a Biden administration decision,” said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, an organization that encourages trade and business ties between the countries. “They would have to decide that the threat from China was more important than the threat from Iran or the threat from the Russians.”
The Block 70 aircraft are the newest F-16 configuration, with new avionics, a modernized cockpit and an improved engine, Lockheed Martin said.
A move to accelerate the aircraft delivery would be seen in Beijing in part through a political lens, former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark said.
“It is yet another clear signal of US determination to support Taiwan’s ability to defend itself,” said Denmark, who is an analyst at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank.
Despite lacking formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the US is its main international backer and arms supplier.
Lockheed Martin declined to comment on any potential future requests to change the production schedule, referring queries to the Ministry of National Defense and the US government.
The US Department of State, which oversees foreign military sales, declined to comment on any internal discussions about potential changes to the delivery timeline.
Lockheed Martin’s new F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina, has several customers in the production queue ahead of Taiwan, including Bahrain, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
The US government has not asked Lockheed Martin for delivery timeline changes for the Taiwanese F-16 jets, a person familiar with the situation said.
The source declined to speculate about how much sooner Taiwan could get new-build F-16s even if a decision were made to accelerate deliveries. Any such effort would be complicated by production constraints, which include long lead times to source materials for Taiwan’s specific configuration of fighter aircraft.
Taiwan’s air force did not respond to questions on potential accelerated deliveries, but said in a statement that the military’s major weapon purchases are “rigorously planned in accordance with actual combat needs and planning schedules.”
The US sale of F-16s was guided by US law and “based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs and the threat posed by [China], as has been the case for more than 40 years,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
The missions to intercept Chinese aircraft are putting stress on Taiwan’s air force, which last year had several mishaps, including three fatal crashes.
Fuel costs, pilot fatigue and wear and tear on aircraft threaten the readiness of the air force if this pressure continues, Taiwanese and US military analysts said.
The air force last week suspended combat training for its entire F-16 fleet after a recently upgraded model of the jet crashed into the sea in the latest of a series of accidents.
“They [the Chinese] are wearing out their opponent without firing a shot,” said Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.
The air force in 2020 scrambled 2,972 times against Chinese aircraft at a cost of NT$25.5 billion (US$920.51 million).
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the