Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) yesterday promised to consider a proposal to mothball the Air Force’s Mirage fighter jets in light of their poor performance and high maintenance costs.
Kao said the Ministry of National Defense would carefully evaluate the issues involved, such as how to maintain the balance of combat capabilities across the Taiwan Strait, before making a decision on the matter.
In the meantime, the Air Force would work with the French manufacturer in an effort to fix problems with the turbine blades of the jet engines so as to upgrade the aircraft’s performance, he said.
The proposal to mothball the Mirage fighters was put forward by Chinese Nationalist Pary (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Lin said a rupture of engine turbine blades on Mirage 2000 fighters in May resulted in a drop of average pilot flight hours to six hours in the month, only 40 percent of the minimum 15 hours required by the ministry.
Lin also pointed to the exorbitant costs involved in maintaining the Mirage fleet.
While the maintenance costs of the F-16 and the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) are NT$160,000 and NT$250,000 per flight hour respectively, it costs NT$800,000 per flight hour to maintain the Mirage jets, he said.
In related news, and at the same meeting, Kao denied an Apple Daily report that an F-5E aircraft was almost shot down by an F-16 fighter in a recent aerial gunnery training exercise.
Kao told lawmakers that fire from the F-16 fighter only hit the cable on which the aerial gunnery target on the F-5E jet was attached. The F-5E was serving as a towing aircraft during the training exercise, he said.
He said when the cable was hit, the F-16 fighter was 610m away from the towing aircraft and it was untrue to say that the F-5E “was almost shot down.”
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he
RSS