Taiwan aerospace company delivers 4 aircraft to Air Force
ROC Central News Agency
12/12/2023 05:55 PM
Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) Taiwan's leading domestic aerospace company, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), delivered four trainer aircraft -- the last four of seven scheduled for delivery in 2023 -- to the country's Air Force on Tuesday.
Dubbed the "Brave Eagle," the planes were showcased at a press event at AIDC's manufacturing hub in Taichung and conducted a flyover there before heading to Chihang Air Base in Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan.
AIDC Chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏) was said to be on one of those aircraft.
The Brave Eagle is a type of advanced jet trainer that will gradually replace the F-5 E/F fighter jets and AT-3 jet trainers in Taiwan's fleet of military aircraft.
The government ordered 66 of the advanced trainer aircraft from AIDC in 2017, to be delivered to the Air Force by 2026.
A total of 17 were to be delivered by the end of 2023, and two were delivered in 2021, eight were delivered in 2022, and three had been delivered so far in 2023 before Tuesday.
There had been concerns that the last four of the seven aircraft to be delivered in 2023 would not be delivered in time, but the delivery was made with 19 days left in the year.
AIDC President Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞) said it has been challenging to manufacture the planes as the supply chain was cut off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was not until Nov. 20 that they had enough of the planes' key materials to assemble them.
AIDC workers then spent days and nights to make the planes before conducting ground tests, Ma said.
A team of around 300 people led by the chief engineer has been dispatched to Chihang Air Base to make sure the aircraft achieve a high rate of availability.
(By Matt Yu and Bernadette Hsiao)
Enditem/ls
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
