Taiwan suspends combat training with F-16 fighter jets after jet crashes at sea

The Taiwan Air Force on Tuesday suspended combat training for its fleet of F-16 fighter jets after a recently upgraded model of the jet crashed into the sea.

The island’s Defense Ministry said the F-16V, the most advanced type in Taiwan’s fleet, disappeared from radar screens after taking off from Chiayi Air Base in the south of the island for a training mission at an airfield. coastal shot.

President Tsai Ing-wen instructed the armed forces to spare no effort in the search and rescue mission and “to better clarify the cause of the accident,” a spokeswoman said.

The government’s Rescue Command Center said witnesses saw the aircraft crash into the sea. Helicopters and ships were looking for the pilot.

Air Force Inspector General Liu Hui-chien said the aircraft was only recently upgraded to the “V” version, with new weapons systems and avionics.

Combat training for the F-16 fleet has been suspended, he added.

In late 2020, an F-16 disappeared shortly after taking off from Hualien Air Base on the east coast of Taiwan on a routine training mission.

Last year, two F-5E fighter jets, which first entered service in Taiwan in the 1970s, crashed into the sea off the southeast coast after apparently colliding in midair during a training mission.

Although Taiwan’s air force is well-trained, tension has increased with the appearance of Chinese military aircraft over the past two years, although the accidents have not been linked in any way to these intercept activities.

China, which claims the democratic island as its own, has routinely sent aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense zone, mostly in an area around the country-controlled Silver Islands, but sometimes also into airspace between Taiwan and Taiwan. the Philippines.