The air force last week signed two contracts with France for spare parts for the Dassault Mirage 2000 avionics and electric warfare suite and for pilot training worth NT$5.7 billion (US$185.82 million) and NT$35 million respectively, a Ministry of National Defense official said on Sunday.
The avionics and electronic warfare components contract is an open, four-year-and-two-months contract to be implemented from October next year, while the pilot training contract is a two-year deal that begins in November, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Sixty Mirage fighters were bought from France in a deal inked in November 1992 and all of the operable aircraft are deployed at the Hsinchu Air Base, the official said.
Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration tried to negotiate a deal to replace the aging Mirages with the Dassault Rafale, but the project died when he left office, the official said.
Plans to upgrade the more than 20-year-old fighters has long been muddied by allegations of alleged arms sale kickbacks to the French government, the official added.
The Mirage 2000s are in urgent need of an upgrade to remain on par with the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) Indigenous Defense Fighter and the US-made Lockheed-Martin F-16, which have been heavily upgraded, so the military began talks with France to procure medium and short-range missiles, spare parts for avionics and electronic warfare systems and pilot training, the official said.
The AIDC has also signed a NT$15.7 billion contract to maintain and service two tactical fighter wings of Indigenous Defense Fighters starting in January next year, the official said.
The AIDC is already working on a NT$68.6 billion project to manufacture 66 advanced jet trainers, to be completed by 2028, as well as a NT$140.2 billion project to upgrade F-16s, the official said.
The government expects that the public capital injection and introduction of technologies will stimulate the nation’s aeronautics industry and strengthen its competitiveness on the international market, the official said.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
RSS