President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday at a ceremony to promote 26 senior military officers touted her administration’s efforts in developing indigenous weapon systems during her nearly eight years in office.
At the ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense’s Taipei headquarters — the last Tsai attended before her second four-year term ends in May next year — she said she had launched several military reforms to boost the armed forces’ readiness.
Such efforts include building warplanes and warships at home, such as Taiwan’s first indigenous defense submarine the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” and bolstering the military’s combat readiness and resilience, she said.
Photo: CNA
Tsai also thanked the promoted officers for their tireless efforts, and urged them to continue to exercise their leadership in their new roles.
The promotion of senior military personnel used to be carried out twice a year, but is now done at monthly events after the legislature revised the law in May last year.
However, the conferral ceremony is still held twice a year — in June and in December.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Seven officers were yesterday promoted to the rank of two-star general — either lieutenant general or admiral — and 19 were promoted to one-star generals — either major general or vice admiral.
Among the seven new two-star generals was former military spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文), who heads the Army Command Headquarters’ Political Warfare Department.
A graduate of Fu Hsing Kang College’s class of 1990, he previously served as a news section chief at the Army Command Headquarters and was political warfare head in Kinmen County.
Separately, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業) yesterday delivered four trainer aircraft — the last four of seven scheduled for delivery this year — to the air force.
The “Brave Eagle” planes were showcased at a press event at AIDC’s manufacturing hub in Taichung and conducted a flyover there before heading to Chihang Air Base in Taitung County.
The Brave Eagle is an advanced jet trainer that is to gradually replace the military’s F-5E/F jets and AT-3 jet trainers.
The government ordered 66 of the advanced trainer aircraft from AIDC in 2017, to be delivered by 2026.
Seventeen were to be delivered by the end of this year. Two were delivered in 2021, eight were delivered last year and three had been delivered earlier this year.
There had been concerns that the last four would not be handed over in time, but the delivery was made with 19 days left to spare.
AIDC president Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞) said it has been challenging to manufacture the planes, as the supply chain was cut off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was not until Nov. 20 that they had enough key materials to assemble the planes.
AIDC workers then spent day and night manufacturing the planes before conducting ground tests, Ma said.
Meanwhile, the air force’s Project Feng Chan (鳳展) to upgrade its 141 F-16A/B jets to match F-16Vs in capability is expected to conclude on Thursday next week, military sources said yesterday.
The project — a collaboration between AIDC and Lockheed-Martin Corp of the US — was launched in 2018.
The air force separately purchased 66 Block 70 F-16Vs from the US under Project Feng Hsiang (鳳翔), the source said.
The Ministry of National Defense’s budget for next year showed that NT$140.2 billion (US$4.45 billion) has been allocated to the project, which was expected to conclude by the end of this month, the source said.
A separate project involving munitions upgrades is expected to be completed by next year, they added.
Tests on the last upgraded jet were completed on Dec. 3, the source said, adding that AIDC and Lockheed-Martin needed to complete final preparations, but no more flight tests are planned.
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