TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Wreck of Taiwan's most advanced fighter jet found after crash
The jet disappeared from radar screens around half an hour after taking off for a routine training mission from its base in southwestern Taiwan on Tuesday.
Change Size
An armed US-made F16 fighter jet takes off from a motorway in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, during the annual Han Kuang drill on September 15, 2021. (AFP/Sam Yeh)
T
aiwanese rescuers on Wednesday located the wreckage of a F-16V jet that crashed into the sea a day before, less than two months after the island launched the first squadron of its most advanced fighters.
The jet disappeared from radar screens around half an hour after taking off for a routine training mission from its base in southwestern Taiwan on Tuesday.
The air force said the jet plunged into the sea with no sign of the 28-year-old pilot ejecting in time.
The national rescue centre said wreckage of fuselage had been found but there were no signs of the pilot following an all-night search involving multiple helicopters, coastguard vessels and over 60 officials.
The incident has dealt a blow to the new squadron of US-made F-16Vs that was commissioned in November as Taiwan upgraded its ageing fleet amid rising tensions with China.
The airforce has temporarily grounded its entire F16 fleet.
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has ramped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan.
On Tuesday, Taiwan grounded its F16 fleet as a search was underway to locate the fighter jet.
The pilot was identified as 28-year-old captain Chen Yi, who joined the air force in 2020.
Taiwan's national rescue centre reported that people saw the jet "crashing into the sea", which the air force confirmed at a press briefing.
The F-16V "rapidly fell into the sea at a large angle and there's no sign that the pilot parachuted out," said air force inspector-general, Major General Liu Hui-chien, adding that all F-16 fighters had been grounded.
The incident came less than two months after Taiwan commissioned its first squadron of US-made F-16V fighters in an effort to upgrade its ageing fleet as tensions with China spike.
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary.
President Tsai Ing-wen has ordered an all-out rescue effort and asked for clarity around the cause of the incident, her office said.
At least three helicopters and five coastguard vessels had been dispatched to find the jet.
"The air force and coastguard are making our best efforts to continue the rescue mission... but it's difficult at night with choppy sea," Liu said.
The F-16V is an upgraded and much more sophisticated version of the island's other F-16 fighters, which date back to the 1990s.
Taiwan also has French-made Mirage jets and its own warplanes.
The air force has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years as it faces growing pressure from China.
Taiwan's air force has suffered a string of fatal accidents in recent years as its kept under constant pressure by China, which has ramped up incursions into its air defence zone since 2020.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defence zone, according to a database compiled by AFP, more than double the roughly 380 carried out in 2020.
Last March, Taiwan grounded all military aircraft after a pilot was killed and another went missing when their fighters collided mid-air in the third fatal crash in less than six months.
