Taiwan’s air force gets second Brave Eagle jet trainer as cross-strait tensions rise

It’s seen as one of the world’s most advanced training aircraft, researcher says, with local planemaker AIDC expected to complete the order of 66 by 2026

Beijing is ratcheting up its intimidation campaign against the island, including by sending more than 900 warplanes into its air defence zone this year

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The Brave Eagle advanced jet trainer project was launched in 2017 and AIDC began mass-producing the planes last month. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:00pm, 22 Dec 2021

Taiwan’s air force has taken delivery of a second Brave Eagle advanced jet trainer, which will help boost training for pilots responding to PLA warplanes that enter the island’s air defence zone as cross-strait tensions mount.

Beijing sees Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take control of the island, by force if necessary. It has ramped up pressure on the self-ruled island, including by sending fighter jets and bombers into its air defence identification zone – more than 900 in the past year – on a near daily basis.

Taiwan’s defence ministry has said the People’s Liberation Army is now able to blockade the island’s supply lines by air and sea.

The growing military threats have pushed Taiwan’s air force to strengthen the flying and combat skills of its air squadrons, and it contracted local planemaker Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation to build 66 of the advanced jet trainers, or AJTs. The first was delivered last month and the remaining aircraft are expected by 2026.

Planemaker AIDC said in a statement that the second Brave Eagle, or Yung Yin, had taken off from the Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in central Taichung on Wednesday and landed at the Chih Hang Air Base in the eastern county of Taitung.

“AIDC has already set up a maintenance team at the Chih Hang Air Base to service the Yung Yin AJTs in the future,” said AIDC chairman Hu Kai-hung, who personally delivered the plane to the air force.

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