The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday.
Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way of Hawaii and Guam.
Photo: Screen grab from the US Air Force’s Web site
The aircraft would undergo 18 to 20 aerial refuelings during the transit, they said.
US pilots would fly the single-seat F-16Cs, with Taiwanese copilots in the double-seat F-16Ds to help familiarize them with their soon-to-be fielded fighters, the official said.
The jets would join the Taitung-based 7th Tactical Fighter Wing to serve alongside its F-16Vs, forming a unit with an authorized strength of 205 tactical aircraft, they said.
The 7th wing, composed entirely of modernized F-16s, would be the most powerful unit in the Taiwanese air force and shoulder the main responsibility of defending the nation in the air, they said.
The US in 1997 used the same method to deliver Taiwan’s first F-16s, they added.
For legal purposes, US personnel must retain control of the aircraft until Taiwan formally accepts them into service to complete the transfer of ownership, the official said.
The Ministry of National Defense obtained the F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets through the NT$247.2 billion (US$8.35 billion) New Combat Aircraft Procurement Program.
The F-16 has undergone numerous upgrades and improvements throughout its service life, which started in 1974, with Block 70/72 being the latest — and likely the last — version of the aircraft.
The Block 70/72 variant of the fighter is equipped with a more powerful radar, engine and avionics, features that Taiwan’s military believes are necessary to counter China’s most advanced tactical aircraft, some of which utilize stealth technology.
Air force Chief of Staff Lee Ching-jan (李慶然) on Wednesday last week told lawmakers that representatives of the Taiwanese military were working with Lockheed Martin Corp to hasten F-16 production.
Lockheed Martin increased the number of assembly line workers to boost manufacturing capability following requests by Taiwanese representatives, he added.
The military is optimistic that 10 or more of the new F-16s would arrive in Taiwan this year and the full order would be completed next year, he said.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS