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.
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