Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week.
The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems.
Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The committee is questioning officials today, followed by deliberations on Wednesday and Thursday.
It is impossible to estimate the number of aircraft to be delivered this year, but the first one is expected to be delivered in the third quarter, Koo said.
Asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) whether the jets would arrive in Taiwan by September, Koo said it is “expected to be possible.”
Washington does not want to see delays in arms deliveries, as strengthening Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities is in its core interests, he added.
Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉), accompanied by air force Deputy Chief of Staff Tien Chung-yi (田忠儀), visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on Monday last week to view the first aircraft, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on Saturday.
Deliveries are to begin this year, the ministry said, without elaborating.
Lockheed Martin has assigned several hundred personnel to assemble the remaining aircraft, and "there are no bottlenecks in either parts supply or manpower; production is proceeding at full capacity on a two-shift schedule," it said.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it was committed to "delivering advanced deterrence capabilities to support Taiwan's security goals."
"We continue to work closely with the US government to accelerate delivery where possible," it added.
As the F-16V is a new model specially designed for Taiwan, continued test flights are still needed to fine-tune its systems, and tests must be carefully carried out, the ministry said.
Taiwan has converted 141 older F-16A/B jets into the F-16V type and has ordered 66 new F-16Vs, which have advanced avionics, weapons and radar systems to better face down the Chinese air force, including its stealthy J-20 fighters.
There are currently 59 F-16Vs on the production line, Koo said.
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