Taiwan shows off new advanced jet trainer aircraft

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Taiwan shows off new advanced jet trainer aircraft

Taiwan touts new air force advanced training jets abilities. Taiwan's new Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft are seen at an air force base in Taitung.

Taiwan - Taiwan Air Force showed off a new locally designed and made jet trainer on Wednesday, touting the more advanced, combat-capable abilities of the aircraft that will replace aging and accident-prone equipment.

Taiwan's Armed Forces are mostly equipped by the United States, but President Tsai Ing-wen has made the development of an advanced home-grown defence industry a priority, especially as China, which claims the island is its own, steps up military modernisation efforts and drills near Taiwan.

The AT 5 Brave Eagle, made by state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp with a budget of T $68.6 billion $2.3 billion, had its first test flight in 2020.

It is Taiwan's first domestically jet since the F-CK- 1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter, or IDF, which was rolled out more than three decades ago, and the two jets look similar and have similar capabilities.

Three Brave Eagles roared into the air at the Chihhang Air Base in Taitung, Taiwan's east coast, in a show of its prowess in front of reporters.

Chang Chong-hao, flight training officer, said that the Brave Eagle was suitable for both air-to-air and air-to ground combat training purposes, and can land and take off using a shorter runway.

It gives students more time to deal with unforeseen situations. The Brave Eagle trainer can be equipped with weapons, though it remains in the testing phase, and the plane is designed to have a support function in time of war.

Air force officer Huang Chun-yuan said that they're not involved in the armaments part, but those tests are up to the manufacturer ADIC. General conversion training and tandem flying are our main mission at the moment. Taiwan's air force plans to take 66 units by the year 2026 to replace aging AT 3 and F 5 training aircraft, which have suffered a series of crashes in recent years. An AT-3, a model that first flew in 1980, crashed in May, while three F-5 s have crashed in the past year or so.

The F-5 s entered service in Taiwan in the 1970s, but are no longer front line combat aircraft.