TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The United States Air Force (USAF) will send staff to Taiwan next year to check the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) added to upgraded F-16V jets, reports said Friday (June 2).

Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) was scheduled to complete the upgrading of 141 F-16A/B fighters to F-16V or “Viper” level by the end of 2023. However, next year, the jets will have to return to AIDC to add the Auto GCAS equipment, the Liberty Times reported.

According to documents the Ministry of National Defense (MND) submitted to the Legislative Yuan, USAF personnel will travel to Taiwan in 2024 to install and test the systems designed to respond to imminent ground collisions and help the jets take evasive action. If the pilot becomes unconscious, the system can prevent the aircraft from crashing and keep it in the air until the pilot regains consciousness.

The decision to install Auto GCAS was reportedly taken after one of Taiwan’s F-16 jets slammed into a mountain during the annual Han Kuang exercises in 2018, with the death of the pilot as a consequence. Taiwan’s jets were only equipped with an enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), which emits a warning sound when a plane flies too close to the ground but does not steer the jet away in another direction.