Taiwan is seeking US cooperation to make its next domestically developed fighter jet, the head of Taichung-based defense contractor Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) said yesterday.
Taiwan’s air force scrambles daily to see off incursions by Chinese jets into airspace near the country, as Beijing steps up pressure on Taipei.
While the mainstay of the air force is Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-16s and French-built Mirages, it also uses AIDC’s F-CK-1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF).
Photo: Aaron Tu, Taipei Times
The IDF fleet was rolled out more than three decades ago, but has been upgraded.
Speaking at a Taiwan-US defense industry forum in Taipei, AIDC chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏) said the company wanted to raise its technical prowess to help with the development of Taiwan’s next-generation fighter.
“When it comes to the development of the next-generation fighter, we hope the United States supports Taiwan to develop it itself, including the engine, avionics, control systems, environmental controls and so on, which are all an opportunity for Taiwan-US cooperation,” he said.
Taiwan in 2017 announced the next-generation fighter program, to include stealth capabilities, but has given few details since.
Most countries are hesitant to sell weapons to Taiwan for fear of angering China.
Even the US has been unwilling to provide Taiwan its most advanced fighters, such as the F-22 or F-35, and Taiwan has no direct answer to China’s new J-20 stealth fighter.
This has driven Taiwan to develop a new home-built fighter as part of an overall strategy to make more weaponry itself, such as submarines.
“Domestically made aircraft is the road we have to travel,” he said.
AIDC in 2020 test flew a new jet trainer, the AT-5 Brave Eagle, Taiwan’s first jet made domestically since the IDF, and the company is also upgrading the F-16 fleet to the more advanced F-16V version and operates an F-16 maintenance facility.
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
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
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
RSS