TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Air Force will begin installing Auto Ground Collision Avoidance Systems (Auto-GCAS) on all its F-16V Block 20s in July, Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Li Ching-jan (李慶然) said during a legislative meeting on Monday.

The Block 20 variant refers to Taiwan’s older F-16 A/Bs that were upgraded to the latest Block 70 version.

When asked by KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) about the installation process, Li said software upgrades would begin in July, followed by hardware integration in September, CNA reported. The project will be completed in 2028, he said.

Li previously explained in January that the 66 newly purchased F-16V Block 70 fighter jets from the US come equipped with Auto-GCAS. However, Taiwan’s existing F-16V Block 20 fleet has not yet completed installation because they use analog flight control systems and must undergo simultaneous digital integration upgrades, per CNA.

Installing the Auto-GCAS system is highly complex, given its ability to take over flight control from pilots to prevent crashes, Li said. He said the system must be carefully integrated with multiple onboard systems, which is why the process requires significant time.

The issue of Auto-GCAS has come into focus after Air Force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅) went missing during a nighttime training mission on Jan. 6. He was flying a single-seat F-16V fighter jet.