Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Skywatcher said:

Well, those two IDF C/D prototypes back in 2006 were new builds, weren't they?

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I don't know for sure in this specific case (they were newly built though back in 2006, you are correct) but they were most likely hand constructed like most prototype aircraft rather than built in a facility that would be capable of mass producing them

Aero_Wing_32 said:

First of all, the Rafale project was shown off to fully replace the whole fleets of the french airfoce only. I mean, not prepared for any exportation at the first time of the project.

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France was an original pioneer member of the Eurofighter Typhoon program. They pulled out of the Typhoon program so that they can develop the Rafale. Till date, less than 100 Rafale have been built with no export orders yet. In contrast, more than 260 of the newer Typhoons have been built with 620 confirmed orders from the participating countries alone. Typhoon, despite being a later arrival as compared to Rafale, has also secured export orders Austria, Saudi Arabia and Greece. Guess who is having the last laugh?

Aero_Wing_32 said:

Back to the topic, I wonder if Taiwan can be associated with Japan in a gen 5 aircraft project. By then, they better face a too powerful militarized China, darkening the overall Asia.

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Taiwan-Japan collaboration? And which political party in Taiwan will have the will to make it happen? KMT is currently pro-China, so certainly not them. DPP didn't do anything close to that when they were in power for 8 years. Perhaps an independent President?

Other than US, the only other realistic source of military hardware for RoC will be the Russians. At least they can also offer a full suite of options ranging from fighters (MIGs, SUs), warships, subs (kilos will be nice), tanks (T-90s perhaps?) and missiles (BrahMos, S-300, etc).

Semi-Lobster said:

I don't know for sure in this specific case (they were newly built though back in 2006, you are correct) but they were most likely hand constructed like most prototype aircraft rather than built in a facility that would be capable of mass producing them

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I think they would have probably built them using the original machinery (which is probably stored away somewhere, if the AIDC is like other military aerospace manufacturers). Might be a start up cost though to reactivate the line.

Spartan95 said:

France was an original pioneer member of the Eurofighter Typhoon program. They pulled out of the Typhoon program so that they can develop the Rafale. Till date, less than 100 Rafale have been built with no export orders yet. In contrast, more than 260 of the newer Typhoons have been built with 620 confirmed orders from the participating countries alone. Typhoon, despite being a later arrival as compared to Rafale, has also secured export orders Austria, Saudi Arabia and Greece. Guess who is having the last laugh?

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You shouldn't speak about the export sales of the E.F. Typhoon that have been fully supported by some politicians... specially in the Saudi case (well...). As I said exporting the Rafale was not a key point in the french fighter project when it started.

The other problem is that the plane costs now more than both the Gripen (not a surprise) and the Rafale.

Typhoon bill 'unacceptably high'
15 April 2011


This european plane is also not as advanced as these 2 aircrafts in multirole tasks. Last but not least, some partners are not ready to fund the rest of their orders considering it as a waste of money, and hesitating when asking for more & more money required in the last Tranches.


That s why I see the Gripen, Rafale and of course the F-16 as the best planes for the ROCAF, in urgent need of next gen. multirole fighters.

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I read that article and more indigenous equipment is always good news for me, but the article said 8 hf 2s and 8 hf 3s, maybe they mean a mixture of each type?

druid84 said:

I read that article and more indigenous equipment is always good news for me, but the article said 8 hf 2s and 8 hf 3s, maybe they mean a mixture of each type?

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Yes, it will be a mixture of both types from what I've read.

It will probably be used to play chicken with PLAN FACs, amphibious units and the odd 054A FFG. I can't see anyone trying to run it out of friendly air cover to go carrier hunting.

Aero_Wing_32 said:

You shouldn't speak about the export sales of the E.F. Typhoon that have been fully supported by some politicians... specially in the Saudi case (well...). As I said exporting the Rafale was not a key point in the french fighter project when it started.

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From what source of information did you read that the Rafale is not intended for export?

Aero_Wing_32 said:

The other problem is that the plane costs now more than both the Gripen (not a surprise) and the Rafale.

Typhoon bill 'unacceptably high'
15 April 2011

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This european plane is also not as advanced as these 2 aircrafts in multirole tasks. Last but not least, some partners are not ready to fund the rest of their orders considering it as a waste of money, and hesitating when asking for more & more money required in the last Tranches.

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Between the Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale, the newest is the Typhoon. Also, the Typhoon is built to the requirements of 4 different countries' air force requirements, whereas the Rafale and Gripen are only built to the requirements of their own country. That's 2 of the most important factors for the Typhoon costing more.

As for multi-role tasks, how is the Gripen more advanced than the Typhoon? Do you have a source for that?

Lol I think if Taiwan is at a point where they have to co-op with Japan they'll save more trouble co-op with US directly, why have an extra middle man?