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.”
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS