On May 28, 1989, in Tainan, Taiwan, a sleek-looking fighter jet took to the skies for the first time. This was a historic moment as Taiwan successfully completed the first flight of the indigenous supersonic fighter jet, the Ching-kuo. It was a moment filled with emotion. Considering that our first domestically produced fighter jet, the T-38, was essentially just an assembly of the Northrop F-5, Taiwan was quite far behind in the aviation sector at that time. So, why does Taiwan now look at Korea with envy? What happened in the meantime? 

Originally, Taiwan had a strong alliance with the United States. However, the issue arose with that little ping pong ball. The relationship between the U.S. and China improved rapidly following the 1971 Table Tennis Championship held in Japan, leading to the deployment of J-7 fighter jets with enhanced engine performance in the region, which put Taiwan in a precarious position.

They were threatened, but the state of the Taiwanese Air Force was such that it was almost despairing. More than 70 aging F-14s, which had long surpassed their recommended service life, along with outdated F-5s, were a significant concern. In particular, the aging F-5s that were operational in Taiwan made it urgent to replace them with new fighter jets. Initially, the F-16 and Northrop F-20 were strong candidates for Taiwan's new fighter jet. The F-20 was especially significant as it was an upgraded version of the F-5 that Northrop was keen to push for Taiwan. However, due to changes in U.S.-China relations, the U.S. government did not permit this, rendering all these plans futile. At this time, Northrop turned its attention to South Korea instead of the blocked Taiwanese market, but the crash of the F-20 during a flight in Suwon meant that the promising prospect of introducing the F-20 in South Korea also fell through. In any case, as it became clear that acquiring new fighter jets would be difficult in the future, Taiwan decided to pursue independent development of a fighter jet.

In May 1982, the IDF development project was launched, marking the beginning of serious research and development. Taiwan's independent aircraft development efforts surprisingly began quite early, with attempts to develop aircraft dating back to the time of President Chiang Ching-kuo's Kuomintang administration. The result of these efforts was the establishment of Taiwan's aircraft development agency, AIDC, or the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation. After several reorganizations, AIDC became active in the 1970s and successfully launched its first product in 1972, which was Taiwan's first domestically produced trainer aircraft, the Tzu Chung. Although it was developed based on American trainer aircraft, it served as an important stepping stone for independent aircraft development. To put it in perspective, we can compare it to the KT-1, which had its first flight in 1991, indicating how advanced Taiwan was at that time. Under the support of President Chiang Ching-kuo's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, AIDC made various attempts at independent aircraft development. Among these efforts,

One of the developments was the evidence of the fourth-generation fighter jet. The name was also derived from the name of the leader, which was part of the development process. So, did Taiwan have the capability to independently develop fighter jets at that time? Of course, it did not. It was thanks to various American defense companies that entered Taiwan's fighter jet development project behind the scenes. The Reagan administration, due to its relationship with China, officially prohibited major arms sales to Taiwan, but it was not about to abandon Taiwan, which was crucial in preventing China's expansion into the Pacific. The support for this fighter jet system technology came from General Dynamics, BA Systems, Northrop Grumman, and others. However, as development progressed with American assistance, some issues arose. First, the United States did not allow Taiwan to use the latest military engines. As a result, Taiwan had to modify the F124 engine, which was not specialized in military aircraft engines, from the American company Honeywell.

I created an F125 engine with an afterburner, which has made it quite a usable engine. However, due to its weak thrust when used as a single-engine, it had to be a twin-engine even for a lightweight fighter. This significantly affects the weight. Moreover, the United States has limited the operational range of Taiwan's fighter jets to just enough to defend Taiwan without provoking China. In fact, initially, there were attempts to limit the engine output through software. Since the U.S. did not allow the export of AMRAAM missiles to Taiwan, Taiwan had to develop its own missiles. Due to technological support factors, the appearance of the F-16 and FA-18 can be seen simultaneously. The basic armament includes a cannon, with short-range air-to-air missiles being the domestically produced Tien Kung 1, medium-range air-to-air missiles being Tien Kung 2, and a 200 km range air-to-ground missile, the Wan Gong. Although it has not been tested in actual combat, it has been significantly enhanced by being equipped with domestically developed systems.

The head of the power was made possible. The radar was equipped with the latest model, the F20, boasting a detection range of 150 to 160 km, which was excellent. Although it was difficult to say it was completely self-developed and there were many performance limitations, Taiwan was painting a hopeful picture. However, in 1990, when the development of the Jinguo was completed and it was being deployed for practical use, the U.S. government allowed the export of F-16 fighter jets. Although it was the initial version, Taiwan prioritized the introduction of the F-16. Around the same time, France proposed the Mirage 2000 to Taiwan, and Taiwan, thirsty for high-performance fighters, quickly accepted the Mirage as well. As a result, the number of Jinguo units introduced fell to half of the original plan, at 130 units. It was truly like pouring cold water on a fire that was being stoked. In fact, although it was a self-developed project, the limited timeframe led to an urgent process, resulting in a very low domestic production rate of components.

The domestic production rate was less than 10%. A low localization rate is not only a problem for military support but also puts us at a disadvantage in production costs. Especially since we reduced the required number of units by half, the impact was significant. While we expected limited performance, the overall effectiveness of the airframe, such as fuel efficiency and operational availability, did not meet the standards of the Taiwanese Air Force. Some criticize the low localization of parts, questioning how it can be called a domestic fighter jet, but this perspective ignores the advantages of developing our own platform and system capabilities. In fact, Taiwan developed the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) with the consideration of it being a nuclear delivery system. Thus, even with a low localization rate and reliance on foreign technology, there are sufficient reasons for needing an independently developed fighter jet. The introduction of the F-16, which Taiwan desperately wanted, was also allowed after the development of the IDF, indicating that there is indeed a causal relationship.

It seems that for this reason, during the development of TOC in our country, we received advice on various technological experiences from Taiwanese aircraft developers, separate from Lockheed Martin's technology. On the other hand, after the production quantity of evidence halved, we only made performance improvements around 2009 and did not consider additional production. However, recently, evidence has resurfaced. In 2019, we introduced the AT5 Yongying, a high-level trainer. Although a new model was presented, its foundation is clearly based on the FA-50, which was developed for conversion to combat use. There are also reports that Taiwan's next-generation fighter development project is based on this. If we look at the fighter development history of Taiwan and our country together, we can see clues as to why we have different outcomes today. First, the independently developed fighter, or more precisely, the core components of the independently developed platform...

If there is no capability for in-house development or sourcing, even a reader platform cannot fully function. The localization of parts does not necessarily mean that all components must be developed in-house. Unlike Taiwan, we have relatively free sourcing of technology and components, so it is more efficient in terms of time and cost to source from abroad. However, experts believe that we need to steadily secure the development capability for key aircraft components under government leadership. This is likely the last piece of the puzzle for true self-reliant defense. The case of Taiwan's Jingguo illustrates this point. What are your thoughts?

앞서가다 존재감 사라진 대만 전투기 근황 : F-CK-1 징궈(경국호) 이야기

All about enjoying 'flying'!
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