In an unprecedented move ordered by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday last week, the air force dispatched F-16 jets to escort a chartered plane carrying Taiwanese team members back from the Asian Games in Jakarta, with the jets launching flares to welcome them.
The move sparked heated discussion on the Internet over how many tax dollars were burned up by sending the fighters.
One newspaper reported that, according to data published by the Ministry of National Defense, fuel costs per hour to fly an E-2K Hawkeye early-warning plane are more than NT$270,000 (US$8,778) and NT$110,000 for an F-16.
Welcoming the Asian Games team cost more than NT$1.37 million, the newspaper said — which, to be fair, is quite economical in terms of air force expenditure.
Among the air force’s mainstay fighters are the F-16, the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) and the Mirage 2000.
Legislative Yuan data show that IDF flights cost NT$250,000 per hour in fuel burn.
The hourly fuel cost for a Mirage is much higher, NT$800,000, and it costs NT$14 million per year to maintain and repair one of the France-made jets. Only about 600 Mirage 2000s have ever been built, so their exclusive spare parts are expensive.
Two decades ago, the Mirage was the most capable of the nation’s second-generation fighters. The version that France sold to Taiwan was the newest available at the time — the improved Mirage 2000-5.
The fact that the French Air Force had just been re-equipped with the same version showed that its combat capabilities were top-notch.
However, nothing and nobody can escape the ravages of time, and Taiwan’s Mirages, like its F-16s and IDFs, need to have their lives extended and their systems upgraded. However, China’s strenuous efforts to reduce Taiwan’s international space make this almost impossible.
Fighters generally need to be upgraded after 15 years of service.
Taiwan asked France to upgrade its Mirages in 2012, but France, under pressure from China, forced Taiwan to withdraw its request by demanding a sky-high price.
Until Taiwan’s other two mainstay fighters have completed mid-life upgrades, the air force will have to go on loving its Mirages for their capabilities, even if it hates their high operation and maintenance costs.
Under the Phoenix Rising Project, Taiwan’s F-16A/Bs are to be retrofitted to the F-16V standard by 2022, while the IDFs have completed their mid-life upgrade under the Hsiang Chan Project. Both jets can carry air-to-air missiles with a range of up to 100km.
However, Taiwan cannot upgrade its Mirages or buy new weapons for them, which makes their age show even more.
Taiwan’s F-16s were long ago armed with AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, whose range exceeds 105km, while IDFs carry Tien Chien II (“Sky Sword,” TC-2) missiles with a range of more than 100km, giving them beyond-visual-range engagement capabilities.
However, the MICA medium-range missiles used on Mirages have a range of just 50km, much shorter than their rivals.
The Mirages would be no match in air-to-air combat involving China’s PL-12 Pi Li (“Thunderbolt”) fighters, which have an effective range of 100km.
Considering all these problems and the resources consumed by the fleet of Mirages, the ministry should carefully consider phasing them out.
Chang Feng-lin is a senior military officer.
Translated by Julian Clegg
There are moments in history when America has turned its back on its principles and withdrawn from past commitments in service of higher goals. For example, US-Soviet Cold War competition compelled America to make a range of deals with unsavory and undemocratic figures across Latin America and Africa in service of geostrategic aims. The United States overlooked mass atrocities against the Bengali population in modern-day Bangladesh in the early 1970s in service of its tilt toward Pakistan, a relationship the Nixon administration deemed critical to its larger aims in developing relations with China. Then, of course, America switched diplomatic recognition
The international women’s soccer match between Taiwan and New Zealand at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday last week, was canceled at the last minute amid safety concerns over poor field conditions raised by the visiting team. The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s soccer team are known, had arrived in Taiwan one week earlier to prepare and soon raised their concerns. Efforts were made to improve the field, but the replacement patches of grass could not grow fast enough. The Football Ferns canceled the closed-door training match and then days later, the main event against Team Taiwan. The safety
The National Immigration Agency on Tuesday said it had notified some naturalized citizens from China that they still had to renounce their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship. They must provide proof that they have canceled their household registration in China within three months of the receipt of the notice. If they do not, the agency said it would cancel their household registration in Taiwan. Chinese are required to give up their PRC citizenship and household registration to become Republic of China (ROC) nationals, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. He was referring to Article 9-1 of the Act
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
RSS