A move that might further escalate the tensions between US & China, Taiwan has formally signed an agreement to buy 66 of the latest model F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp. In 28 years, this is the first time Taiwan is purchasing the advanced fighter jets, since 1992 when President George H.W Bush announced the approval of 15 F-16s to the island nation.
A $62 billion figure announced by the Pentagon on Friday, 14 August, is the upper limit of numerous contracts if all potential foreign customers placed their maximum desired number over the decade. It said that work on the 90 jets potentially to be sold under Friday’s announcement would be complete by late 2026. Company officials have previously said they project a market for as many as 400 of the new F-16s.
Along with Taiwan, Morocco is also buying 24 F-16s jets in the first tranche of 90 aircraft valued at $4.9 billion. While the announcement by Pentagon didn’t explicitly name Taiwan or Morocco, both countries were identified previously in a statement and were confirmed by a person familiar with the contract.
The Taiwan F-16s will be equipped with a top-line fire control radar made by Northrop Grumman Corp. Named APG-83, it would allow precision-guided munitions to be fired at greater distances, said an official familiar with the details.
Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Possenriede told analysts on a July 21 earnings call that the company was anticipating a “quite large” F-16 order “that should get announced sometime this quarter” in which “the marquee customer is Taiwan.”
While the US has backed this sale to Taiwan, it’s drawn a heavy warning from China. It’s most likely to be denounced by China, even though the US had signaled its plans to approve the sale a year ago.
When the planned sale was announced in August last year, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry told reporters that “U.S. arms sales to Taiwan severely violate the one-China principle.”
The spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said at the time that her government was urging the U.S. to “refrain” from selling the “fighter jets to Taiwan and stop arms sales to, and military contact with, Taiwan. Otherwise, the Chinese side will surely make strong reactions, and the U.S. will have to bear all the consequences.”
