Taiwan receives first new F-16s three years behind plan

Taiwan’s Air Force has received the first two of 66 new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets bought from the United States, after the aircraft landed at Chihhang Air Base in the eastern county of Taitung around noon on Oct. 2.

The arrival comes about a month later than expected and roughly three years behind the original schedule. The two jets had been due in Taiwan by late August or early September, but stayed in Hawaii for weeks without explanation, Focus Taiwan reported, after local media said they had turned back shortly after taking off for Guam.

The United States approved the $8 billion sale of 66 F-16 Block 70 jets in 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first term. Deliveries were supposed to start in 2023 and finish by the end of 2026, but production delays, supply chain problems and software integration issues pushed the schedule back. Lockheed Martin unveiled the first newly built F-16 Block 70 for Taiwan at its plant in Greenville, South Carolina, in March 2025.

The new jets will be based at Chihhang, where they will go through ground inspections while pilots and maintainers convert to the aircraft. Taiwan’s government budgeted NT$247.2 billion, about $8 billion, for the purchase between 2020 and 2026, and says the jets will strengthen air defense along the island’s east coast, the side facing the open Pacific, where Chinese aircraft and ships have operated during large-scale drills around Taiwan.

The Block 70 is the newest production version of the F-16, built at Lockheed Martin’s South Carolina line. It carries the AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array radar, a newer mission computer and updated electronic warfare and communications systems, along with conformal fuel tanks that hug the fuselage to add range without taking up weapons stations. It also has strengthened landing gear to handle heavier takeoff weights and weapons loads.

Taiwan already flies more than 140 older F-16A/B fighters, which have been upgraded to a similar F-16V standard in a program completed in 2023. The 66 new jets will take Taiwan’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 aircraft, giving it the backbone of a force that scrambles almost daily to shadow Chinese military aircraft.

The delivery came about a week after Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Taiwan is still waiting for U.S. approval of a separate arms package worth about $14 billion that Trump paused after Chinese objections, AFP reported.

Taiwanese officials have said more F-16 Block 70s will arrive before the end of the year, but they have not given a number. Remaining deliveries are expected to stretch into 2027 and 2028.