Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina.
“We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event.
The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs.
Photo: Screen grab from William Timmons’ Facebook page
The batch of Lockheed Martin fighter jets would be used by the 7th Tactical Fighter Wing, a new air force unit to defend Taiwan proper’s eastern region.
In January, President William Lai (賴清德) said during an inspection of the unit that two out of its three tactical groups had been staffed and were waiting for delivery of the jets.
The F-16C/D Block 70 is expected to be the final model of Lockheed Martin F-16s, as the US Air Force and US allies replace their legacy aircraft with F-35 stealth fighters.
Photo: Screen grab from William Timmons’ X account
The main features of F-16C/D Block jets are AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned arrays, AN/ALQ-254(V)1 all-digital electronic warfare suites, conformal fuel tanks, and new mission computers, cockpits and interface systems.
The fighters are capable of firing AIM-120 and AIM-9 air-to-air missiles and an assortment of ground attack munitions.
The F-16C/D’s ground-attack weapons include anti-radiation missiles, GPS-guided bombs, and one of Taiwan’s latest acquisitions, the long-range AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon glide bombs.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday thanked US government agencies for making the delivery possible.
Washington’s invitation of senior Taiwanese officials to attend the delivery was a show of the US’ commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances,” it said in a news release.
The “six assurances” are guidelines for conducting relations between the US and Taiwan that were adopted in 1982 during negotiations between the US and China over the Joint Communique on Arms Sales to Taiwan. Under the guidelines, the US would not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan, nor would it consult with China regarding arms sales to Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense is working with the US to ensure the jets would be manufactured and delivered on schedule, it said, an apparent reference to production delays that have plagued the aircraft procurement.
Defense expert Mei Fu-hsing (梅復興) wrote on Facebook that while the new jets would be equipped with the AN/ALQ-254(V)1 technology, the jet delivered on Friday would likely lack that electronic warfare suite, as it only recently was flown in a Bahrain Air Force F-16C/D Block 70 jet over Edwards Air Force Base in California.
That would mean Taiwan would need to equip the fighter with an ALQ-184(V) electronic warfare suite as a substitute, he said.
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