The aircraft are part of taiwan's 141 F-16 a b jets an older model from the
1990s that will be completely
retrofitted by the end of 2023. Tsai said the upgrade project showed the
strength of taiwan's cooperation with
the united states defense industry. It comes at a time the island's status
has become a major point of tension in
the u.s china relationship.
Beijing has been stepping up its threat
by sending fighter jets in combat
formations into taiwan's buffer zone
southwest of the island on a regular
basis, along with longer range missions
into the western pacific. China has increased its rhetoric as well
with president Xi Jinping telling President Joe Biden during a virtual
summit this week, that challenges to
china's claim over the island amounted
to playing with fire.
China and taiwan split during a civil
war in 1949 and beijing has not ruled
out force to reunify with the island. The US-1 china policy recognizes beijing
as the government of china but allows
informal relations and defense ties with
taipei. This represents the steadfast promise of
the taiwan u.s partnership.
Tsai was
quoted by the associated press ap, i trust that in holding fast to
democratic values. There will definitely
be more countries with similar values
who will stand with us on this front. He
added
the F-16v is the most technologically
advanced version of the storied
multi-role fighter jet equipped with a
highly capable radar, allowing it to
track more than 20 targets at a time. It also features cutting-edge electronic
warfare systems along with advanced
weapons precision GPS navigation and a
system to automatically avoid collisions
with the ground.
The planes represent the most advanced
of the fourth generation of fighter
aircraft but still below the latest
fifth generation such as the USF-22 and F-35, Russia's Su-57 and china's J-20. Taiwan has mooted the idea of purchasing
fifth generation aircraft from the u.s
but the F-16 upgrade was decided as the
most effective measure under the present
circumstances.
Taiwan's air force also operates french
dassault mirage 2,000 and domestically
designed and manufactured AIDC-FCK Cinque fighters for a total fleet of
around 400. China by contrast operates around 1,600
fighters around half of them based in
the eastern and southern theaters of
budding taiwan, along with around 450
bombers.
China's superiority in both quality and
quantity of fighter aircraft is seen as
turning the military balance in the
taiwan strait to its advantage, independent of involvement by u.s forces. With the upgrades in the planned
delivery of 66 new F-16 versus in 2023
taiwan will be the largest operator of F-16s in asia, said Kitsch Lial a
military and cyber affairs consultant
for doublethink lab an organization
targeting disinformation.
This means the island should invest in
repair centers for the jets to improve
readiness, Leah said. previously taiwan had to send the jets
to other countries for repair. in chia pilots in F-16s displayed
complex maneuvers on thursday flying low
across the skies.
"I believe that as long as we adhere to
the values of democracy and freedom
there will be more like-minded countries
standing on the same front with us," Tsai
said speaking on the same stage as the
top us diplomat in taiwan Sandra Outkirk.
The american chamber of commerce in
taipei expressed its support for taiwan
strengthening its defense capability on
thursday. We also recognized the government's
priority in realizing self-reliant
defense as well as the desire to help
taiwan industries enter the
international defense supply chain, it
said according to Deutsche Precenter DPA.
