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By: - 15th August 2011 at 23:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Can't imagine Europe selling fighters and risking falling put with china. Maybe Taiwan could try allying with India for lca but they might be better off building new variants of idf instead -- and despite everything I can't imagine India will have a lot to gain by pissing off china either.
Basically the chances of Taiwan getting foreign fighters is very low at the moment. But who knows, if cross strait relations improve substantially in the next few years china may sell them some j-10a's (terms and conditions apply)
By: - 15th August 2011 at 23:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
i read an article recently that suggested Taiwan was interested in building its own UCAVs to supplement their manned fighters....
By: - 16th August 2011 at 00:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think they showed a video of that at it's recent defense expo? It looked more like an x-45 with aam's than a real a2a ucav. That's a few good years away yet I'd think, an x-45 class ucav, let alone a real a2a ucav.
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The radar upgrade is in the right direction, if beijing allows it to go ahead, but soon it'll be too little too late, if that change of balance hasnt been reached yet.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 07:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Can't imagine Europe selling fighters and risking falling put with china.
By that definition, the Europeans could potentially suffer from a fall out in relations with China by selling to the indians?
I would have thought Taiwan would be an ideal candidiate to join either the Japanese next gen fighter program, or the South Korean/Indonesian/Turkish program.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 07:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
that could be the case, but Taiwan is many times more important and sensitive to the chinese government than the territorial dispute with india is.
Any foreign country will have a hard time getting any substantial arms purchase through to taiwan as things are now... And fighter jets are arguably the biggest no go out of them all. Participating in the japanese or korean stealth fighter projects would obviuosly be useful great, just like if they could get new F-16s or even F-35s... but again, would either those countries want to cross china over this?
Unless things change, I'd say no.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 11:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
that could be the case, but Taiwan is many times more important and sensitive to the chinese government than the territorial dispute with india is.Any foreign country will have a hard time getting any substantial arms purchase through to taiwan as things are now... And fighter jets are arguably the biggest no go out of them all. Participating in the japanese or korean stealth fighter projects would obviuosly be useful great, just like if they could get new F-16s or even F-35s... but again, would either those countries want to cross china over this?
Unless things change, I'd say no.
That doesn't leave much of a choice for a country like Taiwan. Without military patronage of the US, they're quite defenceless in terms of options.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 11:13 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
which is why they have updated their aircraft domestically and are looking at how to do the same in the future.
If I were in taiwan, I would do the same. Its clear that its great to have the US as a friend, but you should always be able to stand on your own two feet.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 11:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Ok, then the question is, are the indigenous efforts of Taiwan able to produce products for the ROCAF which would deter or be able to defend against the PLAF? Particularly considering the recent advances made by mainland China?
By: - 16th August 2011 at 11:48 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
That doesn't leave much of a choice for a country like Taiwan. Without military patronage of the US, they're quite defenceless in terms of options.
Yes I agree, the problem is that they do not really have any real options at the moment.
We can speculate about what options would benefit ROCAF but we have to be realistic that most/all of their roads for new fighters are cut off.
they're best off developing their own weapons, as mrmalaya said. But I don't think they quite have the political will to do develop what they need. ROC military seems to have their hopes pinned on US and foreign assistance, especially wrt fighters.
By: - 16th August 2011 at 11:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Ok, then the question is, are the indigenous efforts of Taiwan able to produce products for the ROCAF which would deter or be able to defend against the PLAF? Particularly considering the recent advances made by mainland China?
Considering their aging F-5's need to be retired in a few years and F-16s and M2Ks aren't exactly young I think having the ROCAF deterring the PLA in general is not a viable option as it was about maybe just two decades ago.
Maybe an offensive weapon like an air launched cruise missile could cause some problems but if it's a situation of dancing on the brink of independence, that threat would be unavoidable. But then there'd be probably US intervention etc to deal with
By: - 16th August 2011 at 13:43 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
By that definition, the Europeans could potentially suffer from a fall out in relations with China by selling to the indians?I would have thought Taiwan would be an ideal candidiate to join either the Japanese next gen fighter program, or the South Korean/Indonesian/Turkish program.
Japan does not export weapons - especially not to Taiwan. I'm pretty sure Taiwan would not buy Japanese weapons even if it could. Remember, all China's disputes with Japan over islands, territorial waters, EEZ, etc are backed by or shared with (as in Taiwan makes the same claims) Taiwan.
S. Korea would probably have been happy to co-operate with Taiwan in weapons development at one time, but now? S. Korea is busy cosying up to China, which is by far its biggest export market, bigger than the next three (USA, Japan, & Hong Kong) combined - & much of the Hong Kong trade is actually destined for China.
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By: Rookh - 15th August 2011 at 12:27
I couldn't find a thread for ROCAF news and discussion, so apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere to any great depth.
If the US doesn't have a change of heart, how will this development effect the ROCAF? Could we see the Typhoon or Rafale being selected? Or will the ROCAF opt for the upgrade of legacy F-16s? BTW, how old are those F-16s and what sort of hours to they have? What about a possible upgrade of the Mirage 2000s and synergistic order of Rafales?
U.S. To Deny Taiwan New F-16 Fighters
Offers AESA Radar in Upgrade for Older Jets
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7378123&c=ASI&s=AIR