news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

our special correspondent cheng dong

according to taiwan's china times electronic news on the 10th, the taiwan air force previously purchased 66 f-16v fighters from the united states under the code name "feng yang project". according to the public budget book of the taiwan "ministry of national defense" for next year, the taiwan air force is now carrying out an undisclosed ammunition and pod procurement project with a total amount of more than nt$42.8 billion, "to give full play to the combat capabilities of the new fighters." some analysts said that this budget shows that the taiwan air force only purchased fighters before, but did not buy ammunition and pods.

li zhengjie, a retired major general of the taiwan military, said on the taiwan china television program "headline news" on the 9th that the general public can easily be "inspired" by seeing these 66 f-16v fighters, but they (the taiwan military) dare not say that they bought f-16vs but not these pods. "in order to boost morale, they only bought half a set. this kind of thing has been seen many times before." li zhengjie said that the focus now is whether these 66 f-16vs have pods. he explained that there are two types of pods, one is a sniper pod, and the other is called an irst pod, which can track stealth fighters, that is, "a pod that can track the j-20." li zhengjie said worriedly, "the ammunition and pod procurement case is currently included in the taiwan air force's budget, and it may not be purchased. the more serious problem is whether these things can really be purchased in the end."

singapore's lianhe zaobao previously reported that the taiwan air force purchased 66 f-16v fighters from the united states in 2019, with a total budget of nt$247.2 billion. it was originally planned that taiwan would obtain two f-16vs in 2023, but the delivery of two prototypes for flight testing was postponed until the fourth quarter of this year. last september, the taiwan "legislative yuan" budget center released a report mentioning that the plan would be postponed to 2026 because the progress of ammunition and other equipment acquisition was not as expected. the taiwan air force said at the time that considering the "us military's position", software development delays, and software verification and installation, the us notified that the delivery of five weapons and equipment, including the "dfrm electronic warfare pod" and the "mtc mission training center", would be delayed. taiwan air force officials revealed at the time that the delayed delivery was for the ammunition part. in other words, although the taiwan military's f-16v fighters have been modified, they have no weapons and cannot exert their full combat power.

some netizens on the island mocked, "the dpp authorities' unique secret weapon - laymen leading professionals, doing half of the work and talking about the second half with money." others said, "an f-16v fighter without weapons is like a tiger without teeth."