The first of the nation’s 66 F-16 Block 70 jets is soon to roll off the Lockheed-Martin production line in the US, with Taiwan intending to send deputy minister-level officials to attend the event marking its completion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a legislative committee on Thursday.
The US has also provided its preliminary list of who would attend the event, Koo said, adding that it would be inappropriate for him to divulge further information at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The air force plans to send its deputy chief of staff to accompany the deputy minister of national defense to the event, air force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wang Te-yang (王德揚) said, adding that it would take place “soon.”
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
With the arrival of the F-16 Block 70, the air force would be operating two variants of the F-16 jets, with the F-16 Block 20 being upgraded after the Feng Chan Project (鳳展計畫), the Ministry of National Defense has said.
New equipment, including the AIM-120D air-to-air missiles outfitted by the air force’s Fourth Tactical Wing 22nd Tactical Fighter Group, has improved the air force’s ability to deter potential aerial invasions, it said.
After a year of training, F-16V jets in the air force’s Fourth and Fifth Tactical Fighter Wings have recently completed training exercises using AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles simulating attack runs against the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) radar facilities, it added.
The ministry is also considering purchasing electronic warfare pods to enhance its fleet of F-16V jets and would be listing the purchase in its fiscal 2026 budget, it said.
In other developments, the military’s five-day combat-readiness exercise is to commence on Monday involving all three services.
The exercise would be unscripted and simulate real combat scenarios, which would better prepare units for a possible invasion, the ministry said.
The military would be monitoring PLA “gray zone” exercises — which might mask potential real invasions — to assess threat levels and would conduct its own combat-readiness drills to prepare for any escalation, Koo said earlier this month.
The ministry said it is also extending the computer-assisted simulation and live exercise sections of this year’s Han Kuang drills to 14 days and 10 days respectively.
The military-affiliated Youth Daily News yesterday reported that the army’s Sixth Army Corps Commander Lieutenant General Chen Wen-hsing (陳文星) on Thursday convened a meeting with staff officers to prepare for the upcoming exercise.
The exercise aims to simulate real combat situations and test troops’ response to unexpected incidents, Chen said.
The goal is to ensure troops would be able to mobilize for warfare immediately, he said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to