Previous technical difficulties related to the nation’s order of 66 F-16V jets have been overcome and the government is hopeful that it would take delivery of all of the planes by the end of 2026, the Ministry of National Defense has said.
The update was given on Friday in a written response to an inquiry from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) about a delay in the US’ delivery of US$20 billion of weapons systems Taiwan has purchased.
That delay has been partly due to the US prioritizing the supply of weapons Taiwan needs to Ukraine.
Photo: CNA
Citing a Wall Street Journal report, Lo said the delayed items include F-16Vs, Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and Patriot air defense missile systems.
The ministry said that production of the F-16V jets Taiwan ordered was delayed due to development and software integration issues relating to equipment Taiwan wants installed in the aircraft.
Those issues have been resolved and production of the jets is under way, it said.
The jets should be delivered before the December 2026 deadline as agreed in the contract, it said.
The ministry said it has been working closely with teams from the US Department of State and the US Department of Defense to ensure that the delivery of the weapons, including the Harpoon missiles, the HIMARS rocket launchers and the Patriot missile systems stays on schedule.
Among the provisions in the contract are compensation clauses that set out penalties for contractors that do not meet delivery deadlines for non-force majeure reasons, it said.
Under the clauses, Taiwan would first identify damages it has sustained as a result of the delays and issue a demand for compensation to the US government through bilateral security channels, it said.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on June 17 told members of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that Taiwan expects to take delivery of two F-16V prototypes in the fourth quarter of this year, after which the jets would undergo flight tests.
Taiwan has demanded that the US fill the order of 66 jets by the end of 2026, Koo said at the time.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS