News Story: Taiwan Advanced Jet Trainer Nears Bidding Process

M-346 Master (Image: Wiki Commons)

Wendell Minnick and Tom Kington

TAIPEI, Taiwan, and ROME — Leonardo-Finmeccanica has launched a massive public relations effort in Taiwan to save an agreement with a local aviation company to honor a 2014 deal to co-build the M-346 Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) for filling Taiwan’s air force requirement for 66 aircraft to replace aging AT-3 Tzu Chung attack/trainers.

The local aviation company, Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), signed a teaming agreement for the transfer of technology, co-production and technical assistance for the M-346, but the election of a new president, Tsai Ing-wen, has thrown a wrench into the deal.

Tsai has pledged to develop indigenous weapon systems and wean Taiwan off its dependence on foreign-made arms.

Tsai has put AIDC and the Air Force in a difficult position. The new government wants to build a completely indigenous trainer, dubbed the XAT-5 AJT, according to a senior AIDC official. The Leonardo agreement is still in effect, he said, but the new president wants to change it.

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