Taiwan upgrades self-developed warplanes

Jul 30, 2006, 13:37 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan is upgrading its self-developed Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) warplanes to improve their combat-capabilities against China, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) has upgraded two of the Taiwan Air Force's 130 IDFs. The two modified IDFs will make their debut on October 10, the China Times reported.

The modified areas include the IDF's avionics, fire-control system and landing gears, it said.

AIDC is upgrading the IDFs because in most countries, warplanes are upgraded 10 years after they have entered service.

Ten years ago the Taiwan Air Force launched its second-generation fleet - 130 IDFs, 150 F-16 Block A/Ds and 60 Mirage 2000-5s - to boost its defences against China.

Taiwan Air Force is seeking to introduce its third-generation fleet. Taiwan press recently reported that the US has agreed to sell Taiwan 66 F-16 Block D/Cs, which are more advanced than F-16 Block A/Bs.

China and Taiwan split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and has vowed to recover Taiwan by force if Taipei declares independence or indefinitely delays unification talks with Beijing.

In its latest issue, the Toronto, Canada, based Kanwa Defense Review reported that China has built two airbases in Gansu Province to familiarize the Chinese air force with the Chingchuankang Airbase in Taichung, central Taiwan, and practise bombing attacks.

Photos in the Kanwa Defense Review showed that the two airbases are the exact copies of the CCK Air Base, which is one of Taiwan's three main airbases.