The nation’s main domestic aircraft developer yesterday said that it has completed the first stage of design for a military trainer aircraft destined to replace the air force’s Beechcraft T-34C trainers, which are near the end of their service life.
With the completion of the first stage of the design process, the second stage can start once the air force initiates the process to develop and build a new trainer jet, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) said.
A prototype could be built by 2028 and mass production begin in 2031, AIDC said in a statement.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The plan to develop and build 45 domestically made trainers would cost an estimated NT$21.4 billion (US$690.3 million), AIDC said, while obtaining the same number of planes from other nations would cost NT$18.6 billion.
Some savings might be derived from maintenance fees spent on domestically built planes over a lifespan of 25 years, which are estimated at NT$52 billion, less than the about NT$52.9 billion that would be needed for aircraft purchased from abroad, it said.
Investing in domestically produced jets would help boost the economy and create nearly NT$39 billion in spillover effects, AIDC said.
The air force purchased 49 Beechcraft T-34C trainers in 1985, with 40 of them still in service.
Given that the T-34Cs have been in service for nearly 40 years and are not equipped with ejection seats designed to save a pilot’s life in an emergency, several legislators have urged the air force to replace its aging fleet of trainers.
The T-34Cs are to be gradually taken out of service starting in 2033, military and aerospace industry sources said.
About 200 domestic companies have the ability to participate in the development of Taiwan’s first locally designed trainer and more than 70 percent of its components are expected to be made domestically, the sources said.
AIDC said building a new trainer jet domestically would be crucial for the nation’s aerospace sector because it would help bolster its capacity to make high-end aircraft systems and spare parts in preparation for developing next-generation fighter jets.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is