Friday, October 28, 2005

US Military Aid to Taiwan!

The US approved air-to-air missile sales to Taiwan:

The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday notified Congress that it had approved the sale to Taiwan of 10 AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and 5 AIM-7M Sparrow missiles -- both built by Raytheon Co.

The proposed sale, valued at $280 million if all options are exercised, also included continuation of a pilot training program and logistics support for F-16 aircraft, as well as associated equipment and services.

Hooboy! 15 missiles!

*sigh*

In a second item, part of the same deal, we're going to train Taiwanese pilots:

THE Pentagon has announced a possible contract with Taiwan to continue training F-16 fighter pilots in Arizona and provide air-to-air missiles for live fire drills.

The contract, which was notified to the US Congress, was valued at as high as $US280 million ($367.89 million).

It includes 10 AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and five AIM-7M Sparrow missiles for live fire exercises at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, the Pentagon said.

The contract also provides for the continuation of a program to train Taiwanese pilots at Luke Air Force Base and logistics support for F-16 fighter aircraft, it said.


This is far more important than missiles and something I have long called for. I'm curious to see what kind of stuff leaks about the quality of local fighter pilots.

3 comments:

Sun Bin said...

about $20M/missile......hmm, how much does the PLA fighter jet costs? domestic vs russian imported?

Anonymous said...

Those missiles were only sold for live fire exercises. The rest of the Sidewinder and AMRAAMs will be sold on a "as needed" basis when the shit hits the fan. More likely they were sold already and have been discreetly delivered to the TAF.

Sun Bin said...

failed F-16 missions over a defenseless cargo ship.

Your fiction/fantasy's ending is probably more likely than MZT's.