By WENDELL MINNICK
TAIPEI — The $3.7 billion deal between Taiwan and the U.S. Air Force to upgrade the island nation’s 146 F-16 fighters ends two years of often painful negotiations but remains controversial in Taipei, officials and analysts said.
Under the deal inked July 13 in Washington, the U.S. Air Force will pick the upgrade package Taiwan will have to live with — and pay for — and will exacerbate the country’s fighter shortfall for a dozen years starting in 2016 as Block 20 A/B aircraft are pulled from frontline duty for modernization. The first upgraded jets will be delivered starting in 2021.
BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are competing for segments of the upgrade program, with the winner to be picked by the Air Force. Lockheed has emerged as the frontrunner, however, after striking an exclusive deal with Taiwan’s leading aerospace contractor, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC).
Taiwanese officials and analysts said they are concerned about the deal for three reasons.
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