Taiwan’s first two F-16V Block 70 fighters left the United States on Aug. 17, but as of Sept. 3 they had still not arrived at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung, and Taiwan’s military had not publicly disclosed an exact arrival time.
They are built but not yet delivered. Even after they arrive, they will not yet be an operational capability.
Taiwan has spent years recovering from production delays. The harder test begins after production.
The aircraft must reach Taiwan, be accepted, integrated, and used for training before they add real capacity to the Air Force. What happens to these first two jets may indicate what the remaining 64 will face.
First clock
Taiwan signed a contract in 2019 for 66 new-build F-16C/D Block 70 fighters, with completion originally expected by the end of 2026. The program fell behind after COVID-19 disrupted production and supply chains, and Lockheed Martin had to rebuild its F-16 line in Greenville, South Carolina.
By October 2025, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) acknowledged that completing all 66 aircraft in 2026 would be difficult. Lockheed Martin responded by running two shifts, with production operating as much as 20 hours a day.
The effort produced the first two aircraft, tail numbers 6727 and 6728.
That is where one delay ends and another begins. The first was about building the aircraft. Now it is about getting them to Taiwan.
Ferrying fighters across the Pacific is not simply a matter of distance. Taiwan’s first F-16s made the same journey in 1997, requiring 19 aerial refuelings across the route: nine on the Fort Worth-to-Hawaii leg, six to Guam, and four on the final approach to Taiwan.
The Block 70’s conformal fuel tanks extend range, but the fighters still need tankers, maintenance stops, and suitable weather.
The current aircraft spent more than five nights at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, longer than the 1997 stopover there. Reports on Aug. 26 placed the jets at Guam and expected same-day arrival in Taiwan, but unsettled weather pushed the timeline back again.
A reported Aug. 28 arrival also came and went. By Aug. 30, aviation enthusiasts were still waiting outside Chihhang Air Base, watching an empty runway.
Separate delays
The F-16V program now contains several separate issues that should not be treated as a single delay.
In June, lawmakers questioned whether Taiwan’s AN/ALQ-254 Viper Shield electronic warfare system complied with a 2012 Legislative Yuan requirement tied to US Air Force equipment standards.
Koo argued that the requirement applied to Taiwan’s earlier Block 20 upgrade, not the new Block 70 purchase, and pointed to other Block 70 operators using the same system.
It remains unconfirmed whether the internal suite is even installed on the first two aircraft.
There is no evidence that this dispute caused either the production or ferry delay. It is a separate procurement question and should be judged on its own.
Cost sharing
Taiwan also helped finance F-16V-related development after the United States and Egypt withdrew, and it recovers part of that contribution when other countries later buy systems covered by the investment.
A National Audit Office review through October 2025 put the contribution at about US$319.85 million, with US$245.23 million paid or under US review and US$74.62 million still outstanding.
This is cost sharing, not an open royalty on every F-16V sold. Taiwan is recovering part of an earlier investment while still waiting for the aircraft it ordered for itself.
The 66 new-build fighters are costing about NT$247.2 billion, or roughly US$7.7 billion.
What Taiwan bought
Taiwan already has F-16A/B fighters upgraded to the F-16V Block 20 standard under Peace Phoenix Rising. AIDC says it completed delivery of 139 upgraded aircraft in December 2023.
The 66 aircraft being built under Peace Phoenix Soaring are different. They are new Block 70 fighters, with systems such as the APG-83 AESA radar and conformal fuel tanks.
Taiwan is not simply replacing older fighters. It is adding a newer version to the F-16 fleet it already operates.
Those systems matter. But they add no operational capacity while the aircraft remain unavailable to Taiwan’s Air Force.
The strategic question is not whether 66 F-16Vs can match the PLA’s much larger air fleet. They cannot, and that was never the point.
What matters is how much extra capability these aircraft will add, and how quickly Taiwan can turn that capability into a usable force.
After delivery
Taiwan’s revised schedule now calls for all 66 aircraft to be delivered in 2027 and 2028. The first test is production.
Once the aircraft begin arriving, another clock starts: acceptance, integration, and training before they are ready for operations.
The first two aircraft offer an early look at how Taiwan handles the gap between buying a weapon and putting it to use.
The Viper Shield dispute, the ferry delay, and the production schedule are separate issues, each with its own timeline. But the Air Force has to absorb the results of all three.
A revised delivery schedule does not make the aircraft obsolete. A weapon that has been paid for is not the same as one that has arrived, and neither is the same as one that is ready for use.
Two jets can wait out a typhoon. Taiwan’s Air Force cannot wait indefinitely for the rest of the fleet.
The real test is whether the remaining 64 aircraft move from production to Taiwan, acceptance, integration, training, and operational readiness on schedule.
