志翔科技有限公司
Locally made fighter jets replace US-built F-5 jets to be phased out by end of 2024
By Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2022/05/06 13:53
Taiwan's Air Force pilots have started training on the Brave Eagle jets. (CNA photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Pilots have started training on the indigenous “Brave Eagle” Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT), the Air Force said Friday (May 6).
The military ordered 66 Brave Eagles from the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), to be delivered up until the end of 2026.
The Taiwan-made aircraft will replace 16 F-5E and 27 F-5F jets built in the United States. The aircraft, which have been in service for about 35 years, are to be phased out by the end of 2024.
The training courses were based at Zhihang Air Force Base in Taitung County, the Liberty Times reported. The Air Force named the Brave Eagle as an example of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy of having major weapons systems manufactured locally.
Taiwan has experienced incursions by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) planes into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on an almost daily basis for more than a year. The intrusions are widely seen as a tactic to probe Taiwan’s defenses but also to wear out the Air Force.
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