TAITUNG, Taiwan – The first two of a batch of 66 new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets ordered in 2019 arrived in Taiwan on Friday after months of delays, helping to strengthen an air force that has to scramble almost daily to shadow China’s military. Taiwan faces a rising military threat from Beijing, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taipei has complained of repeated delays to weapons ordered from the United States, its most important international backer and arms supplier.
The delivery, to Taitung’s Chihhang Air Base on the mountainous east coast, comes amid growing concern in Taiwan about the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to arming Taipei, despite Washington saying there has been no change in policy. The aircraft, which flew via Hawaii and Guam, touched down at noon.
Speaking to reporters at parliament in Taipei, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said there would be other new F-16Vs arriving soon, though he did not give details. In 2019 the U.S. approved an $8-billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, which would take its F-16 fleet to more than 200. But issues such as software problems delayed delivery of the planes.
The arrival of the first two aircraft came almost exactly a week after Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. Trump said in May, after meeting Xi in Beijing, that he was holding a new $14 billion package for Taiwan in abeyance, though he did approve one worth $11 billion in December 2025. U.S. officials believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2028 is increasingly unlikely, people familiar with U.S. thinking said.
Taiwan holds its next presidential election in early 2028. The new F-16Vs have advanced avionics, weapons and radar systems to better counter the Chinese air force, including its stealthy J-20 fighters, though Washington has been unwilling to provide Taiwan its most advanced fighters like the F-22 or F-35. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but the two have no formal diplomatic relations.
Beijing has repeatedly told Washington to stop arming Taiwan. The Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the arrival of the F-16s. State Department spokesperson said when asked about the new F-16s.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
