A notable development: Taiwan’s military has received three additional F-16V fighter jets. According to local media reports on November 8, the second batch of three F-16V aircraft purchased from the United States arrived at Chiayi Air Base in Taiwan. The aircraft departed from Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility in the U.S. on November 4 and crossed the Pacific Ocean, reaching Taiwan four days later.
The contract was signed in 2019, originally scheduled for delivery to begin in 2023 with full delivery expected by end-2026. With less than two months remaining in the year, only five of the total 66 aircraft have arrived. The U.S. cited reasons including production line relocation, supply chain disruptions, and delays in software integration. Underlying this is the broader constraint of U.S. defense industrial capacity, which is under strain due to competing demands from Ukraine and Israel—raising questions about Taiwan’s actual priority level in Washington’s strategic calculus.
Even more concerning is that Taiwan has already paid over 80 percent of the contract value, including approximately NT$247.2 billion, nearly NT$200 billion of which may now be irrecoverable. The agreement contains no penalty clauses for delays. Moreover, the delivered aircraft are incomplete—specifically, the core "Viper Shield" integrated electronic warfare system has not been installed. Hardware installation is partial, and key software remains under development. A fourth-generation-plus fighter lacking an electronic warfare suite faces significantly reduced survivability in modern high-intensity electromagnetic environments. Local netizens have mocked the aircraft as a “costly target drone”—a blunt but accurate assessment.
In reality, even if all 66 aircraft were delivered, the strategic balance would remain unchanged. The F-16V is a fourth-generation-plus platform, inherently at a generational disadvantage when facing fifth-generation fighters such as the J-20 and J-35. More critically, future warfare hinges on system-level competition. Fixed and publicly known air bases—including Chiayi, Hualien, and Chiayi—are vulnerable to initial long-range strikes; runways and hangars would likely be destroyed before aircraft could take off, rendering advanced platforms ineffective. Compounding this, Taiwan’s air force also faces shortages in trained pilots and outdated missile systems—such as the AIM-120, with a range of 160 kilometers, falling short of China’s PL-15, which boasts a range of 200 to 250 kilometers.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1881371456983047/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.