Taiwanese manufacturer Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) has begun preliminary design work on a "downgraded", advanced jet trainer version of its Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF).
The programme, known as Derivative IDF, involves removing the cannon to make room for 770kg (1,700lb) of extra fuel, and modifying the belly missile recesses to allow attachment of an external fuel tank on a centreline pylon. The avionics will also be simplified, and the access doors redesigned.
AIDC's Military Aircraft Business Division director, George Fung, says the Derivative IDF will be easier to maintain than the fighter version, but will retain an air-to-air fighting capability, with its wingtip missile rails and four underwing hardpoints.
Preliminary design of the aircraft - including its configuration, the selection of components and early windtunnel tests - should be finished in mid-2000. A prototype is expected to be flying two years after that, he says.
Fung says the trainer is needed by the Taiwanese air force, but no funding is available in the current defence budget. Problems could arise because AIDC will require export approval from the US Government .
The air force has received 121 IDFs from a total order for 130, with the last to be delivered by the end of this year. AIDC is therefore keen to find additional work to fill its production lines.
The company is still looking for foreign investors to become partners in its airframes, avionics and engines businesses.
Source: Flight International
