The World Wide Web reported on December 6 that the United States has completed 19 F-16V fighter performance enhancements for Taiwan and plans to complete 22 aircraft delivery by the end of the year. Taiwan’s defense department is clamoring that after the performance of 142 F-16A/B fighters has been improved, they will be able to form a land-air “kill chain” to respond to the PLA’s air “threat.”
The F-16 fighter is a single-seat single-engine light fighter developed by Lockheed. The original intention of developing the F-16 was to develop a ground-to-sea strike as the main combat mission, and it is compatible with the F-15 heavy-duty fighter. The fighters realize the “high and low match”, which meets the requirements of the US Air Force for the number of tactical fighters.
With the advancement of the development process, the performance of this type of fighter has greatly exceeded the actual expectations of the U.S. Air Force at that time: the aircraft adopted almost all the new technologies of the 1970s and was the world’s first fighter designed with the theory of “energy maneuvering”. Including large side wing, fly-by-wire control system, blister cockpit design…
The application of a series of brand-new technologies has made the F-16 fighter jet a classic fighter once it was born. According to public reports, a total of 4588 F-16 fighter jets have been produced since mass production. Today there are still more than 3000 F-16 fighter jets in service in more than 25 countries and regions. The total number of F-16 fighter jets accounts for about 15% of the current total number of fighter jets in the world. This is a quite astonishing number, and it is enough to show the love of F-16 fighter jets by the militaries of various countries.
Although the F-16A/B fighters on the island are second-hand aircraft, due to the MLU upgrade, the US-made AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles can be used, as well as the Harpoon anti-ship missiles and the young animals. Various precision-guided weapons, including air-to-surface missiles and laser-guided bombs, are quite impressive in terms of stand-alone performance.
The F-16V fighter that was subsequently updated was directly replaced with the brand new AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned phased array radar. This radar is an improved version of the APG-81 radar used by F-35 fighter jets and is exclusively used for F-16 fighter jet upgrades. Technically speaking, the AN/APG-83 radar has the ability to effectively detect stealth fighters. This is why the island is clamoring to use F16 against mainland J-20 fighters. Because the AN/APG-83 radar is also compatible with the latest airborne air-to-ground and air-to-ship weapons of the United States, the performance of the F-16 fighter jet is further improved.
F-16V fighter jets have objectively strengthened Taiwan’s ability to resist reunification by force, but any fighter jet must be integrated into the combat system to reflect its own value. In modern warfare, the performance parameters of a single weapon have little influence on the outcome of the war. Although the technical performance of the F-16V fighter is the best in the F-16 family, it is still not good enough compared with the fighters of chinese army. Even when compared with the J-16, there is a big gap, even less with the J-20. Comparability.
If the mainland is determined to liberate Taiwan by force and achieve national reunification, it will inevitably adopt a systemic attack. First, use ground guidance and long-range rocket launchers to launch preemptive strikes against important targets such as airports, ports, barracks, and radar stations on the island. It is absolutely impossible to show everyone a wave of F16 in the air. No matter how many advanced fighter jets there are on the island, it is estimated that they will not have the ability to fly into the air after the mainland’s missiles are washed.
