Brent Hannon/TAIPEI
Gen Huang Hsien-yung, commander-in-chief of the Taiwan air force, has a single, very important task: defend Taiwan from China. "Our strategy is defensive, and the required mission for the air force is to intercept enemy aircraft," says Huang.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province, a part of China which must be reunited at any cost. It has repeatedly threatened to use force to achieve this goal. Taiwan, a democratic island of 21 million people 160km (90nm) from the coast of mainland China, says that it will not consider re-unification as long as the communists remain in power in China. The two countries have been rivals since a civil war divided them in 1949.
Three times in the past two years, China has launched missiles into the ocean near Taiwan. The final series of missile launches, in March 1996, used target areas near Keelung and Kaohsiung, Taiwan's two biggest ports - a demonstration of China's ability to blockade the trade-dependent island.
Huang took command of the air force in 1995, but continues to maintain his proficiency as a fighter pilot. He is under no illusion about the threat faced by Taiwan. He says that the Chinese army, air force and navy have established the country as a modern air power, having acquired technical aid from Russia and Israel.
"Their combat capability has been seriously enhanced. They have new fighters, such as Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers, along with M-series missiles [CSS6/M9 and CSS7/M11] and Dong Feng series missiles [DF-31]," says Huang. China is also developing the new Chengdu F-10, based on Israeli Lavi fighter technology, and, claims Huang, the communist power now poses a grave threat to Taiwan and a potential threat to Asia as a whole.
Taiwan's inability to counter China's M-9 and M-11 tactical ballistic missiles underline the country's urgent need to acquire modern anti-missile weapons. Taiwan's army is now taking delivery of the Raytheon Patriot PAC-2 air-defence system, but Huang remains dissatisfied with the country's missile defences. "The Patriot is incapable of detecting the enemy's ballistic missile during its launch phase, and can only intercept after they penetrate the atmosphere," he explains.
Taiwan's home-made Sky Bow missile, developed by the Chung Shan Institute, was designed primarily to intercept enemy aircraft, rather than missiles. The defence ministry has established a task force to address the need for new missiles, but Taiwan's diplomatic isolation makes purchases of advanced weapons difficult. Beijing's protests and threats, along with the economic enticements of Chinese mainland markets, has made arms sales to Taiwan a political non-starter for most countries.
Fighter developed
In 1982 Taiwan launched development of the Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF), with US help, as it was convinced that it would be unable to buy advanced modern aircraft. The first twin-engine IDF was flown in 1989 and Aerospace Industrial Development (AIDC) has completed around 70 of 130 aircraft on order, with the final example due for delivery in 1999. The first wing of 24 IDFs was commissioned at Ching Chuan Kang airbase in mid-April, and a second is now undergoing conversion training.
AIDC had originally hoped to build 250 IDFs, but in 1992 Taiwan secured a one-off $6 billion purchase of l20 Lockheed Martin F-16As and 30 F-16Bs, followed by the sale of 60 Dassault Mirage 2000-5s for around $50 million each. The two deals, which brought loud protests from China, included Raytheon AIM-7 Sparrow and Matra Mica medium-range air-to-air missiles (AAM). The IDF is equipped with the Chung Shan-developed Sky Sword II medium-range AAM which went into full production late in 1996. While the Sky Sword II is a fully active missile, Mica is regarded as a more capable missile.
Huang is now pressing for a similar capability for the F-16s to counter China's Vympel R-27 (AA-10 Alamo) and future R-77 (AA-12 Adder)-armed Su-27s. "Its combat capability has been upgraded, both in quality, and in quantity, thus posing a grave threat to us," he says.
"Our F-16s must be equipped with advanced medium-range air-to-air missile and advanced air-to-surface missiles," he says. "We are trying hard to procure these weapons systems." The air force is asking for the Hughes AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), which can intercept targets at a greater distance than can either the Mica or Sky Sword II. Huang says that Taiwan requests the AMRAAM at every annual Taiwan/US arms sales conference, but is always refused.
Earlier this year, the first Mirage arrived in Taiwan. The air force now has a total of ten. In April, the first two F-16s arrived in Chiayi. The air force expects to have the first squadron of 16 F-16s in place by the end of 1997. "The delivery of F-16s and Mirage 2000s has proceeded as planned, and in-country conversion training is under way. It is estimated both the first F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 squadrons will be operational by the end of this year," says Huang.
Delivery of the 150 F-16s and 60 Mirages should be complete by late 1999.
Conversions
As new fighters come on strength, the air force will begin to phase out its Northrop Grumman F-5E/Fs from frontline service. It plans to retain 90 of the 284 F-5s built under licence by AIDC. Eight of the aircraft are being converted into RF-5E TigerEye reconnaissance fighters by Singapore Technologies Aerospace and will replace the last of the air force's Lockheed Martin F-104Gs this year.
The Mirages will provide the air force with its first-line of fighter defence, says Huang, supported by the F-16s and IDFs. The F-16s will also be used in part for air-to-surface missions. According to reports, the IDFs are based at Taichung and Tainan, the Mirages in Hsinchu, and the F-16s at Hualien and Chiayi. The simultaneous delivery of F-16, Mirage, and IDF fighters has created huge logistical problems for the air force. Huang will need all his administrative talents as the air force executes systems designed to make the new aircraft combat-ready as quickly as possible.
"We will face difficult challenges when conducting conversion training for many different kinds of new fighters. Pilot training and logistic support are among these challenges," says Huang. "The integration of logistic support for different fighters of the French system and the US system is very challenging. We have invested a lot of manpower and money to establish a new logistic system, and now we are doing our best to improve it. So far, this system is functioning quite well."
IDF conversion training is conducted in Taiwan, while F-16 and Mirage instructor training is performed in the USA and France, respectively. All the air force's Mirage pilots have completed their training abroad and returned to Taiwan as instructors.
The air force will use the remaining F-5 as its lead-in trainer. It is still considering a partial avionics upgrade for the aircraft, while earlier, more ambitious plans, included re-engineing, appear to have been dropped. "We can use it as a very good lead-in fighter for training for our second generation fighter," says Huang.
After 500h on the F-5, pilots will qualify for conversion training to the new fighters. Air force pilots are also being trained in the USA using leased US Air Force Northrop Grumman T-38s, says Huang. So far, more than 100 pilots have completed the T-38 course and some of these have now returned to the USA to receive F-16 instructor pilot training.
Absorbing the 60 Mirage fighters will not be easy for an air force which has been weaned on US-designed fighters and training doctrines, but Huang says that the air force has been working on the problem from the start. "We considered language, because few people know French," he says. "Fortunately, France promised that all the instructions will be in English." After signing the procurement contract in 1992, the air force sent personnel to France to review the organisation of the conversion wing, and make structural adjustments.
Maintenance personnel also went to France for training, while French technical representatives came to Taiwan to help establish a maintenance capability, logistical support, and technical assistance. "Currently, everything is satisfactory, and we can maintain a high commission rate for the new fighters, to support all the training and combat missions," says Huang.
For surveillance, the air force uses the Northrop Grumman E-2C airborne early-warning aircraft, which has been operational since 1996. "We have employed the E-2C's excellent long-range detection capability to detect low-altitude targets and intensify surveillance of various airports along the south-east coast of mainland China," says Huang.
Naval blockade
Taiwan is vulnerable to naval blockade. To counter this threat, says Huang, the air force will deploy fighters and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, such as the Northrop Grumman S-2T, to cover and support the Navy's fleet of destroyers and submarines.
The air force is not satisfied with the S-2T. "Its performance is quite limited, and they cannot detect all the activity of the enemy's submarines, so it's necessary for us to phase out the S-2T and replace it with a new one," says Huang. As the air force now has its hands full absorbing new fighters, however, it is handing over full ASW responsibility to the Navy.
"Once the Navy has the fixed-wing anti-submarine platform, they will have an integrated capability to conduct ASW operations."
The navy plans to acquire new fixed-wing ASW aircraft, says Huang, the leading candidate being the Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion. "But it is not easy for us to acquire more advanced ASW aircraft," Huang says. "So far the US Government has not agreed to this kind of aircraft sale."
Taiwan's diplomatic isolation, and its difficulty in importing weapons, has forced it to establish its own aircraft research-and-development and production capabilities. It is clear, however, that if Taiwan is to stay ahead of China's military modernisation drive and widening access to foreign technology, its survival is going to hinge on the willingness of others to supply it with even more advanced weapons.
Air force attention has begun to turn to a next-generation fighter beyond the IDF, Mirage 2000-5 and F-16. The combat effectiveness of the air force in the near-term, however, appears assured and it is now looking ahead to 2000, when the build-up will be complete.
Source: Flight International
