Tsai Ing-wen tours facility set up with Lockheed Martin to service Taiwan’s F-16 fleet
- The centre has ‘greatly improved the problems of slow delivery, high cost and a high defect rate’, according to the president
- She says it has repaired and overhauled more than 100 types of spare parts and components for the fighter jets
“This has greatly improved the problems of slow delivery, high cost and a high defect rate in the repair of components and spare part systems for [Taiwan’s] fleet of these warplanes,” she said.
The centre opened in August 2020 after an agreement was signed between Taiwan’s government-funded Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) and Lockheed Martin.
Tsai said the facility had reduced the time needed for maintenance of the island’s F-16 fleet, which made it more reliable for safeguarding Taiwan.
She urged local manufacturers working with the AIDC to produce reliable parts to repair and maintain the fighter jets’ bodies, engines, avionics and other systems.
Tsai also called on the local industry to help develop global aviation markets, to boost the island’s status as a regional aerospace supply chain.
She said the establishment of the centre was part of a government push to develop the island’s defence industry, which she said was necessary in the face of Beijing’s military expansion.