Taiwan Gets 3 More F-16 Block 70 Jets as China Tensions Mount
(MENAFN) Taiwan took delivery of three more F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the US on Sunday, local media reported, as tensions with China continue to simmer.
The aircraft touched down “safely” at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on Sunday morning, a Taipei-based news agency reported, citing the air force. The jets had departed Lockheed Martin’s factory in South Carolina last Tuesday.
The arrival follows the delivery of the first two F-16 Block 70 jets to Taipei last month. They are the first of 66 F-16V Block 70 jets the island is due to receive from Washington.
China responded to that first delivery by restating its “firm” opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan.
Washington approved the sale of the 66 jets and related equipment in 2019, in a deal worth roughly $8 billion. It marks a major upgrade to Taipei’s air defenses at a time of persistent friction with Beijing.
Separately, under the Phoenix Rising program, Lockheed Martin and Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. upgraded 140 F-16A/B fighters to the F-16V Block 20 configuration. That work was completed in Dec. 2023.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, while Taipei insists on its independence.
The aircraft touched down “safely” at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on Sunday morning, a Taipei-based news agency reported, citing the air force. The jets had departed Lockheed Martin’s factory in South Carolina last Tuesday.
The arrival follows the delivery of the first two F-16 Block 70 jets to Taipei last month. They are the first of 66 F-16V Block 70 jets the island is due to receive from Washington.
China responded to that first delivery by restating its “firm” opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan.
Washington approved the sale of the 66 jets and related equipment in 2019, in a deal worth roughly $8 billion. It marks a major upgrade to Taipei’s air defenses at a time of persistent friction with Beijing.
Separately, under the Phoenix Rising program, Lockheed Martin and Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. upgraded 140 F-16A/B fighters to the F-16V Block 20 configuration. That work was completed in Dec. 2023.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, while Taipei insists on its independence.
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