Taiwan gets first 2 of 66 F-16Vs, with no dates for the rest
The Oct. 2 delivery arrived a month late. Taiwan's defense minister only says more than two jets will come this year.
Taiwan took delivery on Friday, Oct. 2, of the first two of the 66 F-16V Block 70 fighters it bought from the United States, according to Focus Taiwan, the outlet of Taiwan's CNA news agency. That is a little over 3% of the order, and a look at what remains shows why the arrival matters more as a signal than as military capacity. The latest reporting is from Oct. 3, with no later update.
The aircraft carry tail numbers 6727 and 6728. They touched down around midday at Chihhang air base in Taitung County, on the island's east coast, after flying from Hawaii with a stop in Guam. They were expected in late August and, according to Al Jazeera, arrived a week after the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Washington. Neither government explained the delay; the overlap with the summit is what the media report.
The schedule
The program, approved in 2019 at about $8 billion, called for all 66 jets to be delivered in batches before the end of 2026. Focus Taiwan blames the delay on the relocation and restart of the production line and on supply chain problems.
That leaves 64 still to come. Defense Minister Wellington Koo said more than two jets will be delivered this year and that dates will be coordinated with the U.S. program office. He gave no number and no month. Taiwan currently operates 139 F-16A/B jets, so the two new ones do not yet change the size of its fleet.
President Lai Ching-te called the arrival "an important milestone" for air defense. The jets will go to the 7th Tactical Fighter Wing, created in December 2023 to operate them, and operational capability will be switched on in phases while personnel train in the United States.
What remains open
Beijing had not responded in the sources consulted: there is no statement from its Foreign Ministry. Nor is there news on the $14 billion arms package that, according to what El Mediático reported, remains on hold. The next delivery will show whether the delay was a one-off or a pattern.
