President Tsai inspects progress of F-16 maintenance and repair company

2022-11-01

A domestic F-16 maintenance and repair company in Taichung is now able to repair over 100 components of F-16 fighter jets. President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday inspected the company’s progress, and heard from the company on plans to expand with a new facility. Tsai said the company’s achievements meant Taiwan would be able to reduce military expenses, and would be better prepared to face the threat from China.

President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday inspected progress at a company that repairs and maintains F-16 fighter jets, and listened to plans for a new repair facility.

F-16 repair facility representative
Lockheed Martin has agreed to a technology transfer, so we are planning to build a new facility next year in Kaohsiung’s Renwu Industrial Park.

The Taichung-based company established an F-16 maintenance facility in 2020, with Tsai making a trip to Taichung to attend the facility’s inauguration. Now, two years later, the company says it has been working with National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, and is now able to repair more than 100 F-16 components.

Tsai Ing-wen
President
This will bring improvements to our F-16 fleet. We won’t need to deal with long delays, high prices and high failure rates when replacing the components of these aircraft. The new facility will give us the capability to repair and maintain these things on our own, thereby reducing the time and cost expenditures. This will be very important for our military equipment supply chain.

Repairing components locally means they no longer need to be sent far off to other countries when they break. This will ensure Taiwan’s military can better operate, and can be better prepared in the face of threats from the Chinese military.

Tsai Ing-wen
President
Defense self-sufficiency is never an easy path. In the face of China’s expansionist ambitions, Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation with democratic partners, working together in the defense of shared values. I must stress that the more prepared we are, the less chance we have of being invaded.

A total of 11 domestic companies are now involved in the maintenance of the military’s aircraft, thereby contributing to Taiwan’s defense self-sufficiency, and enhancing its position in the aerospace supply chain.

視察F-16維修中心蔡總統:持續強化國防自主

2022-11-01

總統蔡英文南下台中漢翔參加F-16維修中心成果發表會，會中有11間廠商獲得空軍的適航認證，現場展示了台灣廠商維修的技能，目前有百項零組件可以在地維修。蔡英文致詞時表示，建立自主維修能量，才能面對中共威脅，確保台灣空域安全。

總統蔡英文視察F-16維修中心成果發表，仔細聽簡報。

[[簡報人員]]
“洛馬公司也同意技轉，所以我們公司預計，明年開始在高雄最新的仁武產業園區要投資擴建新廠”

2020年成立的F-16維修中心，當年成軍，總統蔡英文也親自到台中出席，兩年過去了，維修中心帶來好消息，軍工廠和中科院，有超過百項F-16系統零件可以在地維修。

[[總統蔡英文]]
“將有助於改善F-16戰機機隊系統零件。長交期、高單價、高失效率的問題，滿足我們戰機自主維修的能量，縮短戰機維修所需要的時間成本，是建立國防產業供應鏈中的重要工作”

戰機零組件在地維修，不用再遠送國外，讓台灣空軍的作戰能力更加穩定，更能面對共軍威脅，更確保台灣空域安全。

[[總統蔡英文]]
“國防自主從來都不是一條簡單的路，面對中國威權主義的擴張，台灣會持續跟民主夥伴一起加強合作，捍衛共同信念跟價值。我必須要強調，我們越是做好準備，企圖侵犯我們的人，冒進的機率就越小”

而參與加入戰機維修中心的，還有國內11間廠商，透過專業技能，也取得空軍適航認證，提升台灣在航太供應鏈的地位。