Off They Go

Strategypage writes that the unfortunately named Taiwanese locally produced fighter plane (F-CK) is getting upgrades that really will make a difference in holding off the Chinese air force's best planes. These are apparently F-16 replacements that aren't too bad at all, and will benefit from better electronics and weapons. About half their inventory will be upgraded.

Further, they think that Taiwan is likely to get the new F-16s they want from us as well as upgrades for their early model F-16s.

Still, this just delays the problems Taiwan has with their air force. The F-CK is still an old plane as are the early F-16s. Even with upgrades, these planes will need to be retired in the next decade or so after 30 years or more of service, I'd think. Plus a number of other fighter planes are already so old that they are too expensive to maintain and just missile bait when in the air. So they could go pretty soon. So even if Taiwan gets 66 late model F-16s, that will be the core of new planes for the next couple decades. Could Taiwan benefit from building new (and better) locally designed F-CKs? Because with all the difficulty Taiwan has had in deciding to buy just 66 new F-16s and the difficulty we've had in approving the sale (and remember, we haven't yet despite Strategypage's confidence we will), I don't know if Taiwan can count on timely delivery of enough additional planes to make a difference.