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Taiwan won't receive financial compensation for U.S. F-16V delays: Minister

ROC Central News Agency

05/04/2023 01:43 PM

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Taiwan will not receive financial compensation over a nearly one-year delay to the delivery of F-16V fighter jets purchased from the United States, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said Thursday.

Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a legislative session into the Air Force's ongoing plan to upgrade its fighter jets to counter Chinese military threats, Chiu said that the contract signed with Washington for the planes did not include financial penalties for late delivery.

However, the United States has promised to provide F-16V spare parts and logistics accessories ahead of schedule as a result of the delay, Chiu said, without elaborating.

Consequently, Chiu said that Taiwan's Air Force would need to increase its fighter jet availability on its own for now.

In the meantime, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) is asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan's defense mission in Washington D.C. and the American Institute in Taiwan to help speed up the delivery from the jets' maker, Lockheed Martin, Chiu said.

According to the MND, Taiwan has purchased 66 new F-16Vs fighter jets and the delivery of the first two -- one single, one two-seat model -- was set to take place before the end of this year.

However, the ministry said that it was recently notified by the U.S. side that the delivery will be postponed until the third quarter of 2024, with the U.S. citing the pandemic as the reason for the delay.

Despite the delay, Taiwan will still receive all 66 fighter jets before the end of 2026 as scheduled, according to the MND.

According to the defense ministry, Taiwan has been asking Washington to sell it more advanced fighter jets since 2003. The administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump finally approved the sale of 66 F-16Vs in 2019.

The U.S. Air Force formed an ad hoc office responsible for the project in March 2020 before the first meeting on the project was held in July of the same year.

Taiwan's government has allocated a total of NT$247.2 billion (US$ 80.5 million) to make the purchase, the MND added.

In addition to the 66 new F-16Vs, Taiwan began a program in 2016 to retrofit all of its existing 140 F-16A/Bs into the more advanced F-16V format, which is expected to be completed later this year.

Also during Thursday's legislative session, Art Chang (張忠誠), head of the military's top research unit, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, told lawmakers that his institute is mulling whether to build retired F-5 trainers into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or as target drones.

Taiwan has been building its own "Brave Eagle" advanced jet trainers to replace aging F-5 trainers.

(By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/ASG