TAIPEI: Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwan’s Defence Minister, said on Thursday that the delivery of 66 advanced latest F-16Vs from the United States had been delayed due to supply chain disruptions.
He said that the defence ministry was working to minimise the damage and “makeup deficiencies”.
The United States approved an 8 billion dollar Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter sale to Taiwan in 2019. This deal would take the island’s F-16 fighter fleet to more than 200, the largest in Asia, to strengthen its defences in the face of any threat from China, which claims the whole of Taiwan.
Taiwan has been converting 141 F-16A/B fighter jets
Taiwan has been converting 141 F-16A/B fighter jets into the F-16V fighter jets type and has also ordered 66 new F-16Vs fighter jets, which have new avionics, arms and radar systems to counter the Chinese air force, including its J-20 stealth fighter jets.
The defence ministry said that the first of the new F-16Vs fighter jets was meant to be delivered in the fourth quarter of the recent year but it has been delayed to the third quarter of the upcoming year due to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.
Chiu said Taiwan had asked the US to “make up the deficiency”, including prioritising spare part F-16 deliveries for the existing fleet.
He said, “Multiple channels are being used, and we are minimising the damage from this,” adding that they still expected to deliver the whole order before 2026.
Chiu said the ministry uses diplomatic channels, such as via Taipei’s de facto US embassy to resolve the issue. Neither the de facto embassy, the US Institute in Taiwan, nor Lockheed Martin responded to a request for comment.
Taiwan has since the previous year complained of delays to US arms deliveries, such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers turn Deliveries to Ukraine as it battles invading Russian armed forces, and the issue has concerned US lawmakers.
Chairman, Michael McCaul of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that during the previous visit to Taipei, he was doing everything possible to speed up arms deliveries.
