Taiwan hopes to receive all 66 of its on-order Lockheed Martin F-16Vs by the end of 2026.
The country’s defence ministry says that technical issues related to the aircraft have been resolved, according to a report by the national Central News Agency.
The ministry provided an update on deliveries in a letter to a legislator, who had queried it about the F-16V acquisition and other weapons.
If the ministry is correct, it suggests that deliveries are reverting to the original plan, which called for them to be completed by 2025-2026.
In May 2023, then defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that deliveries had slipped to the 2026-2027 timeframe. At that time, Chiu attributed the delays to supply chain issues stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, the Ministry of National Defence says that software integration issues around equipment specific to Taiwan also contributed to delays. Taiwan, which had wanted to order new aircraft for years, was finally able to order the F-16Vs in 2019.
The delays have caused some political consternation in the USA among lawmakers concerned about China’s massive arms build-up and increasingly aggressive posture.
In November 2023, Rob Wittman, vice-chairman of the armed services committee, and several colleagues sent a letter to US Air Force secretary Frank Kendall asking about the delays.
The group noted that completion of an upgrade programme for older Taiwanese F-16s to the F-16V standard was delayed by up to three years owing to a lack of key parts – in February, Taiwanese aerospace firm AIDC confirmed that the upgrade programme for 139 F-16Vs had been completed in late 2023.
Further, the letter contended that the 66 new jets had been delayed owing to “software complexities” that Lockheed failed to anticipate.
The military threat to Taiwan continues to grow. Chinese combat aircraft routinely operate in close proximity to the airspace of neighbouring Taiwan and frequently intrude into its Air Defense Identification Zone.
