The Republic of China (ROC) Defense Mission to the US and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) have signed a four-year, NT$10.2 billion (US$336.81 million) contract for “logistics support for critical components” for the upgrades of F-16V Block 20 jets, a notice on the Ministry of National Defense’s Web site said yesterday.
The contract began late last month and is to conclude in 2029. The components are to be delivered to the air force’s warehouses in Tainan and Pingtung County.
The US Department of State in June last year approved the US$300 million “Foreign Military Sales” program covering spare parts and maintenance equipment, and notified the US Congress of the deal in November.
Photo : Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The defense ministry said at the time that the US agreement to sell critical components and Active Electronically Scanned Array, or AESA, support would help the nation maintain its combat capability and air defense capacity.
A program to upgrade 140 F-16 Block 20 jets was completed in 2023, including new AIM-9x air-to-air missiles, Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems and AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar AESA fire control radars.
Separately, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that the second batch of M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks (MBT) are to be delivered to Taiwan by the end of next month.
The ministry is planning to hold live-fire exercises involving the MBTs next month, he added.
The army has budgeted NT$40.52 billion to acquire 108 M1A2T MBTs and related equipment between 2019 and 2027.
The first batch of MBTs arrived on Dec. 15 last year, with the second batch of 42 tanks expected next month and the remaining 28 to be delivered by the first quarter of next year.
The army has begun retiring older tanks and replacing them with the M1A2Ts, Koo said, adding that next month’s exercises would be a test of the army’s progress in its training and familiarization with the new tanks.
The tank crews are to undergo another phase of joint combat training and a performance assessment before the ministry gives the green light to formally establish a new tank force entirely equipped with the M2A2T MBTs, he said.
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