⚡️🇹🇼🇺🇸 — Taiwan’s first two newly built Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 multirole fighters — the latest production standard of the F-16 — have arrived at Chihhang Airbase near Taitung, with the Military News Agency reporting that the single-seat aircraft, serial numbers 6727 and 6728, landed on Friday. They are the first of 66 F-16 Block 70s ordered in 2019 and will join the Republic of China Air Force’s 7th Tactical Fighter Wing at Chihhang, replacing the F-5 Tiger II fighters retired by the unit in 2024. — Breaking Defense.

Lockheed Martin had originally planned to begin deliveries in 2023, but the programme slipped repeatedly: relocation of the F-16 production line from Fort Worth, Texas, to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2019 caused delays as the new facility came online, while subsequent supply-chain and production issues further extended the schedule. The first two aircraft also remained in Hawaii for several weeks during their delivery flight before proceeding via Guam to Taiwan.

➡️ The ROCAF already operates approximately 140 F-16A/B Block 20s acquired in the early 2000s and subsequently upgraded to the F-16V standard. These upgraded legacy aircraft received the AN/APG-83 AESA radar, improving detection, tracking and situational awareness. Taiwan’s new-production F-16 Block 70s also use the APG-83, but add a modern digital electronic-warfare suite, conformal fuel tanks that can extend range without occupying conventional underwing stations, and General Electric F110 engines rather than the Pratt & Whitney F100 engines powering the older Block 20 airframes.

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