The navy and air force yesterday began selecting personnel to send abroad for tactics, drone component replacement and ship-borne combat systems training in preparation for operating US-purchased platforms.
According to the Ministry of National Defense public budget report, the Navy Command Headquarters is to select two officers to visit the US, learn how to operate the combat management system for light cruisers and compile the lessons into a manual for training officers locally.
The air force is to dispatch 101 officers to the US, 65 of which are to train in tactics for F-16 jets and 36 are to train in replacing components and maintaining MQ-9B Reaper drones, the report said.
Screen grab from Lockheed Martin’s Web site
Fighter pilots are to train in the US for one year, while drone operators would stay for nine months and are expected to return by early October, it said.
The air force is also dispatching representatives to Lockheed-Martin and General Atomics, the manufacturers of the F-16 C/D block 70 jets and MQ-9B Reaper drones respectively, to ensure the platforms would be delivered on time next year and in 2027.
In October last year at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that the air force would need to make a three-phase plan to accommodate delays in F-16 deliveries.
The Reaper drone has been delayed, because legislators have questioned the military’s plan to place all four of the drones in the same hangar, putting them at risk of being destroyed in a single strike in an attack.
The committee froze NT$500 million (US$15.25 million) from the budget until the ministry issued a report addressing the situation to the legislature’s satisfaction, the ministry’s budget report for this year showed.
Separately, the navy’s light cruisers are being built domestically. The keel of an anti-air variant was laid in November last year.
Jong Shyn chairman Han Pi-hsiang (韓碧祥) said that construction of the variant has exceeded expectations and should be delivered to the navy by next year after sea trials.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS