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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 MND launches program to build trainer aircraft
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan, front right, smiles as President Tsai Ing-wen, center, shouts encouragement during the launch yesterday in Taipei of a program to build supersonic trainer aircraft. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Ministry of National Defense （MND） yesterday launched a program to build supersonic trainer aircraft, marking the first step toward resuming domestic production of military aircraft — which has been on hold for three decades.
In a contract-signing ceremony in Taichung presided over by President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文）, the ministry commissioned the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to develop 66 XT-5 “Blue Magpie” trainers, and a memorandum was inked between the institute and the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp （漢翔航空） to design and build the aircraft.
The XT-5s — to be equipped with advanced simulation training systems — are to replace the air force’s aging AT3 trainers and F-5 jets.
The first trial flight is to be conducted in 2020 and the whole fleet is to be delivered to the air force in 2026, the institute said.
“Today is a major milestone in [building] self-sufficiency in defense,” Tsai said.
Paying tribute to general Mike Hua （華錫鈞）, who was known as the “father of the Indigenous Defense Fighter [IDF] jet” and who died on Jan. 24, Tsai said the program is an effort to continue his legacy.
“Since the IDF, little progress has been made in the development of domestically produced aircraft for nearly 30 years, with Taiwan’s aerospace industry facing severe challenges from other countries in the region and a shortage of talent,” Tsai said.
“We do not have another 30 years to waste. The government has to lead the nation firmly in redeveloping our defense industry, which I believe is the best way to pay tribute to general Hua,” she said.
Tsai announced two goals for the nation’s defense development: cultivating and retaining talent, and connecting the aerospace industry with other sectors to make it a key driver of the economy.
Due to the limited potential for people to progress in the industry in Taiwan, the aerospace industry has seen much of its best talent poached by other nations — while many of those who remained in Taiwan are nearing retirement age, Tsai said.
A decline in the industry’s innovative capacity would be a “great disaster for national security and industrial development,” Tsai said.
The goal of the Blue Magpie program is to rebuild the nation’s talent pool, Tsai said.
Nearly 200 of the institute’s about 900 employees were hired after her administration took office last year, she said.
The development of the defense industry should benefit the economy, with all defense projects acting as drivers for growth in the private sector to maximize the effect of defense spending, she said, adding that an interdependent ecosystem of the aerospace, machinery and electrical engineering industries has been formed in Taichung.
The nation has the capability to design and build the trainer jet, despite the amount of time that has elapsed since the IDF and the AT3 were developed, institute vice president Ma Wan-chun （馬萬鈞） said.
“The new trainer jet is just a starting point. We have a complete development roadmap to support the air force’s needs,” Ma said.
Asked whether Taiwan is capable of building the next-generation stealth aircraft announced at the end of last month by Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan （馮世寬）, Ma said the institute has not yet completed the design of the aircraft.
However, the announcement was not “daydreaming,” and Taiwan, with its research capability, does not have to develop the technology needed from scratch, he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
