As the first test pilot to have flown the locally built AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), I may know better than anyone the arduous journey of the nation’s indigenous aircraft design and building.
A reader’s letter that was recently published in the media asserted that it would require too much time and too many talented people for Taiwan to design and build its own basic training aircraft. The author said that it would be more efficient to purchase the training planes from overseas, and there would be a variety of aircraft to choose from. The writer concluded that buying foreign planes would be a better option, but I beg to differ.
In 1980, the government realized that the nation’s fighter jets were getting old and urgently needed to be replaced. It tried hard to purchase new-generation fighters from overseas, but the international environment at that time was not friendly to Taiwan. No country that was capable of developing and building new fighter jets was willing to sell them to Taiwan for fear of offending communist China.
Having no other choice, the government resolved to independently develop a new generation of supersonic fighters, leading to the creation of Taiwan’s pride — the IDF. By 1999, 130 IDFs had been built. However, a lack of policy continuity caused the people involved in the research and development of the jets to gradually drift away, which was a serious loss of national assets.
Research and development in the aviation industry has never been an easy task. It is a major undertaking that can only be achieved by a concerted national effort. For more than two decades, there has been no demand for Taiwan to build new types of aircraft.
As a former IDF test pilot, I have long since moved backstage, and the aviation engineers who were trained and nurtured back then are now gray-haired and retired or nearing retirement. Consequently, the domestic aviation industry has experienced a lack of continuity and a gradual loss of talented personnel.
Fortunately, after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office, she said that the policy of indigenous aircraft design and building would be restarted and continue into the future. The current project to design and build the nation’s own advanced jet training aircraft has attracted many young gifted engineers to fill the talent gap. Senior engineers are guiding the newcomers, and passing on their experience and work culture. Continuous efforts are needed to sustain this legacy.
The development and production of the nation’s own basic training aircraft would allow this precious aerospace capability to deepen and continue. The more of a grasp Taiwan has on its own aviation sector, the less dependent on others it would be. Only by designing and building at home can Taiwan consolidate and retain critical technology. It is therefore essential for the nation to do so.
When testing of an advanced jet trainer has been completed, the demand for engineering designers will be greatly reduced, but they will be able to go on with research, development and design of the basic training aircraft, thus avoiding a repeat of the talent drain that took place after the IDF program.
Taiwan’s aerospace industry is mainly composed of OEM providers, with companies working alone, depending on their own technology to attract orders and earning meager profits. Many of these manufacturers are world champions in their field, with technologies that are up to par. However, unable to form a complete industrial chain, their opportunities are limited. The advanced jet trainer project works on an urgent timeline, so many aviation system components have to be procured from abroad.
These days though as the nation develops and builds a new basic training aircraft, it can focus on the domestic industry’s independent development and production of new-generation aviation system components, and this would help link together these highly capable domestic manufacturers. By participating in the research and development of components for the basic training aircraft, they would be able to obtain certification and expand into the international market.
A nation’s aviation industry is a symbol of its strength. The international situation that Taiwan faces is treacherous and ever-changing. Confronted by such challenges, the only way for Taiwan to gain a place in the global aerospace market is by cultivating its own industry, retaining talent and raising its self-production rate.
Only by fostering its own scientific and technological capabilities, instead of relying on OEM orders, can Taiwan rise to meet the demanding standards of the international aerospace market and break into the global aviation industry.
At a time when everyone is asking what Taiwan’s next backbone industry would be, adhering to the policy of indigenous aircraft design and building would make it possible for the aviation industry to become the next backbone. Come on, Taiwan, you can do it.
Wu Kang-ming is an aerospace industry consultant.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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