Forum: General

madrat wrote:

Has Taiwan planned upgrades to their F-CK-1 to coincide with the F-16A upgrades? They bought way more MICA missiles than they'll ever fire from the 2K's. Maybe they should think about at least integrating them into the F-CK-1 to supplement their artificially restricted to near knife-fighting F-16's. Who could envy their position of facing R-77's? I'm sure the AIM-9X only got approved to head off a purchase from Israel.

Taiwan is undergoing MLU on one half of their F-CK-1's, and drafting plans on the upgrade of the remainder half. With the upgrade, it will be able to carry 4 BVR missiles (originally 2). It will also enhance the radar/mission computer, as well as adding long range air-to-surface capability....

Why would you consider Taiwan's F-16's as "near knife-fighting" when they currently have about 300 AIM-120 in their arsenal??

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Conan wrote:

You'd also have to imagine that Taiwan makes extensive use of highways as temporary runways and has extensive runway repair capabilities within it's engineer capabilities.

Hi, all.Long time lurker first time posting.

Indeed there's extensive preparations in Taiwan regarding wartime-use of highway as temporary runways,here's a segment of a program National Geographic channel did
on an exercise showing simulated landing/ rearming of an F-16B Blk 20, F-CK-1,and a Mirage 2000-5 featuring videos from the cockpit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwZuBhX2AY&feature=related

Also....There're currently 18 airports in operation in Taiwan, about 5 airports per

100,000 square kilometers, makes it the 3rd in airport density around the world.

And if this is not enough...there're around 180~275 abandoned airports littering around the countryside most of them have never been used but still intact.

So from a pratical point of view it would be more efficient to target the plans and other supporting structures rather than the runway itself.

madrat wrote:

Has Taiwan planned upgrades to their F-CK-1 to coincide with the F-16A upgrades? They bought way more MICA missiles than they'll ever fire from the 2K's. Maybe they should think about at least integrating them into the F-CK-1 to supplement their artificially restricted to near knife-fighting F-16's. Who could envy their position of facing R-77's? I'm sure the AIM-9X only got approved to head off a purchase from Israel.

The reason that they didn't do that was the same as the reason they didn't equipped the original block 20 Vipers with Sky Sword II instead of AIM-7s. Without technical support from the manufacture it's next to impossible to devise a working interface, and after the La Fayette - class frigate debacle coupled with the recent technical difficulties with current Mirage 2000-5s, there's pretty much no chance of ever getting that.

And there're approximately 120 120C5s and some 218 C7s in stock, so I would say the real problem with Taiwanese BVR engagement would lies in how they utilize their E-2Ts (pretty much just UHF transmitters these days...)

Last edited by FlightDreamz on Feb 11, 2012 - 05:38 PM; edited 1 time in total

Quote:

kitsch
I would would say the real problem with Taiwanese BVR engagement would lies in how they utilize their E-2Ts (pretty pretty much just UHF transmitters these days...)

OUCH! That's a pretty harsh criticism of the E-2 old Hawkeye. Even if it isn't an export version of the newer E-2D which still uses some UHF technology by the way see <a href="http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/cutaway-technical-description-e-2d-may-not-look-pretty-but-packs-big-new-bunch-344539/">flightglobal.com/</a>
But your points on technical support from the aircraft manufacturers is well taken. And unfortunately unless the current administration changes its mind, it looks like Taiwan will be between a rock and a hard place for a while. See <a href="http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-15982-postdays-0-postorder-asc.html">U.S. Denies Taiwans Request thread.</a>

WHOOPS! -Double Post!- Doh

White House To Consider F-16 Sale to Taiwan:

http://www.defensenews.com/article/2012 ... ale-Taiwan

discofishing wrote:

White House To Consider F-16 Sale to Taiwan:

http://www.defensenews.com/article/2012 ... ale-Taiwan

Taiwanese view on the F-16 issue from a few months ago (they seem to have a little trouble telling the difference between the F-16 and the F-CK-1A).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gLFicPD ... ature=plcp

And from yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13fnf1tD ... ature=plcp

Forum: General

Taiwan to upgrade 145 F16 A/B