By Wendell Minnick
TAIPEI — Taiwan has suspended an effort to convince the U.S. government to release a squadron of F-16C/D Block 50/52 fighter jets to cover the downtime of one F-16A/B squadron undergoing lengthy upgrades.
There were hopes the request would snowball into fulfilling a longstanding push to acquire 66 F-16C/D fighters, a U.S. defense industry source said.
Taiwan originally requested 66 F-16C/D fighters from the U.S. government in 2006, but no release has been forthcoming. Taiwan military officials argue the Air Force needs to replace 55 aging Mirage 2000-5 fighters being readied for the boneyard.
Taiwan’s Air Force has a mix of 387 indigenous, French and U.S.-built fighter aircraft: 145 F-16A/Bs, 126 F-CK-1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs), 56 Mirage 2000-5s and 40 aging F-5E/Fs.
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