F-16V jets purchased by Taiwan would be able to produce more thrust than the upgraded F-16A/B jets currently used by the air force, enabling them to have more weapon-mounting capacity, a defense expert said on Saturday.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research researcher Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌) said the new F-16C/D Block 70 jets are equipped with a General Electric F110 engine.
The afterburning turbofan engine has 13,154.18kg of thrust, far more than the 10,432.64kg maximum thrust of the current F-16 engines, he said, adding that greater thrust means more weapon-mounting capacity.
Photo: Screen grab from Phil Hamby’s X account
Shu made the comments in response to media queries about the difference between the F-16s and the 66 F-16Vs ordered from the US, the first of which was unveiled at a delivery ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s production base in South Carolina on Friday last week.
Photographs posted on X by US Congressman William Timmons showed that the ceremony was attended by Representative to the US Alexander Yui and Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝).
The jet in the picture is a two-seater F-16D model, Shu said.
It has an advanced active electronically scanned array radar and electronic warfare suite and comes with a US18E ejection seat.
It also has a larger air intake than the ones installed in the current F-16s, he said.
Taiwan purchased the 66 F-16Vs as part of an arms sale package approved in 2019 during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
The Ministry of National Defense said it expects to receive all the F-16C/D Block 70 jets by the end of next year, adding that the new jets would be deployed at the Taitung Air Base in eastern Taiwan.
The air force completed the upgrades of its more than 140 F-16A/B fleet to the F-16V in 2023.
The jets are equipped with more advanced avionics, including APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar, a helmet-mounted cueing system, and other flight management and electronic warfare systems.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS