Ceremony to mark upgrading of weapons on IDF jets
ROC Central News Agency
2014/01/15 20:53:00
Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) A ceremony is set for Tuesday at an air base in the southern city of Tainan to mark the completion of the first batch of upgraded indigenous defense fighter (IDF) jets and the installation of a new weapon system, the Air Force said Wednesday.
President Ma Ying-jeou is set to attend the ceremony.
Taiwan's over 120 IDFs, which have been in service for more than 10 years, are being upgraded by Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., mainly to strengthen their air-to-land strike capacity in order to offset the burden shouldered by the more advanced fleet of F-16 fighters.
The IDFs will be equipped with the Wan Chien (10 thousand swords) bomb, a subminitions dispenser researched and produced by the military-run Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology.
Similar to the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon employed by the United States military, the Wan Chien can strike targets from a distance to take out an enemy airfield tarmac without exposing the IDF to enemy anti-aircraft weapons.
Legislator Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintang said the Ministry of National Defense has spent nearly NT$3 billion (US$99.66 million) and several years developing the new weaponry system.
The bomb would be effective against military airports, concentrated targets, harbors and missile and radar positions.
Lin's office said that following the upgrade of the first batch of IDFs, a second batch will be retrofitted this year.
All of Taiwan's IDFs are estimated to be capable of carrying the Wan Chien systems by early 2017.
(By Claudia Liu and Lilian Wu)
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