NATIONAL DEFENSE
F-16 fleet to be upgraded
An upgrade of the nation’s fleet of F-16 warplanes is to begin early next year, shortly after the completion of a hangar that is being built for the purpose, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp said. Upon its completion in January next year, the nation’s biggest fighter jet maintenance facility is to have the capacity to handle the upgrade of 24 aircraft per year, corporate chairman Anson Liao (廖榮鑫) said. Under an air force project, the nations is to spend NT$110 billion (US$3.39 billion) to upgrade 142 jets in its F-16A/B fleet, while the first two planes that were purchased are to be sent to the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, in the US for upgrades. The upgrade is to include the installation of an AN/APG -83 radar system, helmet sighting system and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles to improve the aircraft’s combat capacity.
EDUCATION
Joint office opened in Taipei
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech) and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) yesterday opened an office in Taipei aimed at deepening ties between the two institutions. The Tokyo Institute of Technology Engineering Office in Taiwan is to be responsible for faculty and student exchange programs and internships between the two schools, Taiwan Tech president Liao Ching-jong (廖慶榮) said. The office will also organize courses for teachers from both sides, host engineering forums between the two schools and launch industry-school cooperation projects, Liao said. Taiwan Tech said it is working with Tokyo Tech on a number of projects on precision electromechanical devices, robot research and development, and next generation biological sensors.
SOCIETY
Smoke causes fire scare
Heavy smoke was seen coming out of a building on the National Taiwan University campus yesterday afternoon, after what was believed to be a gas leak in the school’s physics department, police said. Fire trucks and an ambulance arrived at the scene after receiving an emergency call at about 2pm, but did not find any signs of a fire, police said. However, firefighters suspected that a gas leak had occurred while students were conducting an experiment in a laboratory on the first floor of the department building, they said. The students and faculty members were evacuated from the building, which was cordoned off for safety, police said. Two firefighters and a lecturer donned protective gear and entered the laboratory to turn off the gas valves, police said.
CULTURE
Treasure heads to US
The Meat-shaped Stone, one of the most popular pieces at Taiwan’s National Palace Museum, is to be exhibited in the US for the first time next month, the museum said yesterday. It is to be the second time that the piece has been exhibited overseas, after it was loaned to Japan’s Kyushu National Museum in 2014. The 5.73cm jasper piece from the Qing Dynasty is to go on display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco as part of the Emperors’ Treasures: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum, Taipei exhibition from June 17 to Sept. 18. After San Francisco, the exhibition is to move to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, where it is to be featured from Oct. 23 to Jan. 22, next year, the museum said. However, the Meat-shaped Stone, is not to be part of the Houston exhibition and is to be sent back to Taiwan for an exhibition that opens on Oct. 4 at the museum’s southern branch in Chiayi County.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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