Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jet crashes, with pilot unaccounted for

Name: Taiwan holds urban, aerial combat drills amid threats of invasion by mainland China
Uploaded: 2022-01-11T11:12:59.000Z
Duration: 2 min 19 s
Description: Taiwan holds urban, aerial combat drills amid threats of invasion by mainland China

F-16V jet ‘rapidly slanted into the sea’ off west coast during training mission, air force says

The plane is one of the F-16s upgraded under a deal with Lockheed Martin and commissioned last month to boost defence in the face of threats from Beijing

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Taiwan’s air force has ordered all F-16 jets to be grounded for inspection. Photo: CNA

Lawrence Chung

Published: 7:12pm, 11 Jan 2022Updated: 10:06pm, 11 Jan 2022

A Taiwanese Air Force fighter jet crashed during a combat training mission on Tuesday, with the pilot unaccounted for and an investigation under way.

The crash, by an F-16V – Taiwan’s most advanced fighter jet – dealt a blow to the self-ruled island’s military, which has hoped to use the warplanes to counter growing pressure from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

China has been sending warplanes to Taiwan’s air defence identification zone almost daily, which is seen as designed not only to ramp up pressure on the island but also to exhaust its air force and pilots.

The plane lost contact with its airbase in southwestern Taiwan in the afternoon and the pilot had yet to be located, the island’s air force said on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses had reported seeing a plane crash into the sea.

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Taiwan holds urban, aerial combat drills amid threats of invasion by mainland China

“The single-seated F-16V (serial number 6650) operated by Captain Chen Yi took off from its home base in Chiayi at 2.55pm for a routine training mission and was missing near the Shuaixi firing target zone at 3.23pm,” the air force said in a statement.