Brent Hannon/TAIPEI Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE
Taiwan's air force has begun planning the procurement of a fifth-generation fighter as a follow-on to the Dassault Mirage 2000-5s and Lockheed Martin F-16A/Bs on order and now entering service.
"We're now drafting a plan to study and evaluate the next-generation fighter," says Gen Huang Hsien-yung, commander-in-chief of the Taiwan air force. The study is expected to focus on recent advances in aircraft development in Europe and the USA.
Given local aerospace industry capabilities and problems with the Aero Industrial Development (AIDC) Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter (IDF), the new fighter will probably be imported. "We do not have the capability to produce a so-called new-generation fighter," says Huang.
Taiwan's long-term interest appears to be focused on the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter EF2000 and a proposed Foreign Military Sales variant of the Boeing/Lockheed Martin F-22. "The USA and Europe have already completed their future fighter studies-we're behind their aircraft. We will watch these developments and study their feasibility," says Huang.
An off-the-shelf acquisition of a fifth-generation fighter from a foreign supplier faces major political obstacles, however, in the form of objections from mainland China.
The sales in 1992 of 150 F-16s and 60 Mirage 2000-5 fighters to Taiwan met with strong protests and the threat of economic retaliation from Beijing. France has since promised China that it will not sell any new weapons to Taiwan.
Deliveries to the air force of the F-16s, Mirage 2000-5s and 130 IDFs on order will be completed by 1999. The air force, however, argues that a new, more advanced fighter will be needed to counter future threats from the Chinese air force, such as the Chengdu F10, now under development with Israeli assistance.
The only alternative to an off-the-shelf purchase is enlisting foreign assistance to co-develop a new indigenous fighter. The air force, however, is known to have been disappointed with the performance of the earlier IDF.
Source: Flight International
