Taiwan To Buy More F-16V Worth $1.4 Billion

Taiwan is building harden shelters for its new F-16V Block 70/72 4.5 Generation aircraft. Source MoD Taiwan.

Taiwan announced a modest pace in defense spending for next year on Thursday, but will spend $1.4 billion on new fighter jets, as the island bolsters its forces in the face of increased pressure from Beijing.

China has stepped up its military activity near Taiwan, including holding assault drills last week near the island, which it regards as Chinese territory to be brought under Beijing’s control, by force if necessary.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s Cabinet is proposing military spending of about $16.9 billion for the year starting in January, up from this year’s budget of 16.2 billion, the government said in a statement.

The littoral combat ship USS Montgomery departs Naval Base San Diego to conduct routine operations and training in the Pacific Ocean in 2018.

That number includes $1.4 billion for new fighter jets. The government did not give details but is likely referring to F-16s.

We need to prepare for potential conflict with China, says Taiwan’s foreign minister.

The United States in 2019 approved an $8 billion sale of 66 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, a deal that would bring the island’s total to more than 200, the largest F-16 fleet in Asia.

The rate of increase would be smaller than the 10% rise budgeted for this year, according to Reuters calculations based on government data.

China in March said its 2021 defense spending would rise 6.8% from 2020, as the world’s second-largest economy emerges from the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

Taiwan’s proposed defense budget is the third-largest government expenditure for next year, after social welfare and combined spending on education, science and culture.

The budget must be approved by Parliament, where Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has a large majority, making its approval easier.

Tsai has made modernizing Taiwan’s armed forces — well-armed but dwarfed by China’s — and increasing defense spending a priority.

Part of that is a making Taiwan a “porcupine” equipped with advanced, highly mobile weapons to make a Chinese invasion as difficult as possible.

© 2021, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.