The air force sent eight F-16 pilots to the US earlier this year to test fire the AIM-120 air-to-air missiles that Taiwan has ordered but has yet to take delivery of, according to a defense source.
The test firing of the medium-range missiles took place before June at an air base in Arizona, where combat pilots from Taiwan receive F-16 flight training, the defense source said.
It was the first test firing of AIM-120 missiles by Taiwan's air force in the US. Last year, the air force had sent pilots to test fire AIM-120s in the US-held territory of Guam.
The eight F-16 pilots sent to the US this year to test fire the missiles were selected from squadrons in Chiayi and Hualien. Most of them are senior F-16 pilots who are responsible for training their younger counterparts.
The air force is scheduled to test fire AIM-120 missiles again next year. The practice will continue each year until Taiwan takes delivery of the AIM-120s.
Taiwan has ordered a total of 200 of the missiles and 292 launchers for use on F-16 fighter planes at a cost of US$150 million.
The AIM-120, also known as the advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, is among the best of its kind in the world. Taiwan had asked the US to sell the AIM-120 missiles for many years but the US did not agree to do so until last year.
The agreement was initially given under one condition: that Taiwan not take delivery of the AIM-120s before China acquires an equivalent weapon from Russia -- the R-77 medium-range air-to-air missile, air force officials said.
The restriction could soon be lifted since it has been widely reported that China acquired the Russian-made R-77 missiles this year.
But regardless of whether such reports are true, the US is not yet prepared to deliver AIM-120s to Taiwan on the grounds that Taiwan lacks proper facilities to store the state-of-the-art missiles, an air force official said.
"The US military sent a team to Taiwan earlier this year to find out whether Taiwan is capable of properly storing the AIM-120s. They went to F-16 bases in Chiayi and Hualien only to find that the missile-storage facilities at the two bases did not meet their requirements," the air force official said.
"The 200 AIM-120 missiles we have ordered from the US are now stored at a US military base in Okinawa. They could be delivered to Taiwan in short order if Taiwan has an urgent need for them," he said.
"It's a pity that the missiles cannot be at our disposal. But we are short of funds to improve our missile-storage facilities to the standards required for the AIM-120s," he said.
To compensate for Taiwan not yet having missiles, the US has provided a number of AIM-120 simulators to the air force for regular training on their use. The missile simulators can help F-16 pilots get the feel for the real missiles as they are carried on board.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS