TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is set to receive the first batch of US-made F-16V fighter jets later this month, a military official revealed on Thursday (Sept. 12).

Personnel and high-ranking officials from Taiwan’s Air Force, including seed instructors and military representatives stationed in the US will attend the handover ceremony, Liberty Times reported. Taiwan is the third country after Bahrain and Slovakia to receive the latest F-16 variant. In 2019, the US approved the sale of 66 F-16Vs for US$8 billion (NT$257 billion).

Delivery of the jets was originally scheduled to begin last year but was delayed. The Air Force has been preparing for the jets by building the largest F-16 maintenance hub in the region and stockpiling advanced munitions, including the AIM-9X and AGM-154. It has also purchased MS-110 reconnaissance pods and infrared search and track pods to ensure the fighter jets are fully equipped during missions.

Next year, 65 Air Force personnel will be sent to the US for F-16 training. The NT$36.64 million program will provide specialized tactical training for pilots and expand the pool of seed instructors. Taiwanese pilots originally trained at Luke Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Arizona, beginning in 1997 but moved to Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson in 2020.