Taiwan’s air force seeks record US$1 billion for equipment maintenance
- The proposed maintenance budget is nearly double the amount allocated in 2016, when Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen took office
- Observers say the sharp increase is a response to the PLA’s attempts to intimidate the island with fly-bys and warships
PLA drones crossed median line, Taiwan confirms for first time
Taiwan’s air force has asked for NT$17.6 billion for equipment and facility maintenance fees and NT$19.2 billion for maintenance and installations, which includes purchases of components and spare parts for its fighter jets, trainers, transport planes, anti-submarine aircraft, helicopters and related ground facilities, according to the proposal.
The source said the maintenance and installation fees were part of the NT$133.7 billion for overall military maintenance spending proposed by the island’s defence ministry and approved by its cabinet in late August.
“All spending still needs the approval of the legislature,” the source said, adding lawmakers were expected to make some cuts before passing the budget between January and February next year.
The PLA staged a series of unprecedented drills around Taiwan after Pelosi visited Taipei in early August.
Washington said that the visit by Pelosi – the most senior US politician to travel to the island in 25 years – did not signal a change to its Taiwan policies, but Beijing took it as a show of support for the island’s pro-independence camp.
Chieh Cheng, a senior researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s main opposition party, said that since Pelosi’s visit, the PLA had changed its tactics for intimidating the island.
How would Taiwan’s US$143 million defence system ward off Beijing drones?
“In the past two years, it mainly sent warplanes to our ADIZ. But since August 3, it has sent warplanes and warships to cross the median line and staged military drills close to Taiwan – a practice that has become the ‘new normal’ for ramping up pressure on us,” Chieh said.
Since August 3, the PLA has sent 525 sorties to either cross the median line or enter Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ, according to the island’s defence ministry.
The ministry said the PLA had also sent drones to Taiwan during the period, including its BZK-005/007 and KVD-001 surveillance drones and the TB-001 – its largest armed drone.