F-16 Fighting Falcon News

August 17, 1999 (by Lieven Dewitte) - A crash forced Taiwan to ground its most advanced fighters Wednesday just as it was trying to play up its military readiness in the face of Chinese saber-rattling. The crash of the U.S. -made F-16 in southern Taiwan occurred only shortly after the air force had ended an earlier grounding prompted by three other F-16 crashes since March 1998. The air force said it would suspend training in theF-16s pending an investigation into the crash at the Chiayi city airport. They also stated that the crash would not affect Taiwan's defenses, because the island had other aircraft available.
The crash coincided with a new warning Wednesday from mainland China that Taiwan's massive expenditures on high-tech weaponry would be of little use if their dispute over Taiwan's political status escalated to armed conflict. Taiwan has flexed its own muscles recently with an air show and highly publicized maneuvers by refurbished tanks, apparently aimed at showing China the island was no pushover. Taiwan ordered 150 of the Lockheed Martin F-16s, along with 60 French-made Dassault Mirage 2000-5s, in the early 1990s to replace its aging fleet of F-5 fighters.

The jet purchases also were intended to restore confidence in the air force following crashes of other aircraft and allegations of design flaws in Taiwan's home-grown Indigenous Defense Fighter, which suffered several embarrassing mishaps including a crash that killed one pilot. The F-16 and Mirage purchases infuriated China, which has few planes of such sophistication although it has begun taking delivery of large and powerful Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 fighters. Investigations into the causes of the previous F-16 crashes have been inconclusive but the military has said they may have been due to malfunctions in flight guidance systems. The air force said Wednesday it would extend F-16 pilot training to eight months from the current six months.