Arms Sale from U.S. Not Finalized: Ministry of Defense|立委質疑軍購F-16V 國防部強調未定案

The Legislative Yuan is reviewing an amendment on article 16 of the Act of Military Service System. The amendment states that the time a cadet spends on training in a military academy can be counted as his or her later regular military service, effectively cutting down the length of military training period. Several legislators expressed support to the bill since it brings more equality for those who join the military with different backgrounds. The legislators also questioned the recent plan to purchase F-16V fighter jets from the United States and whether the fighter suit the military's requirement.


In order to deal with the increasing combat capabilities of the PLA and the need for defending Taiwan's air space, the Ministry of Defense recently proposed to purchase fighter jets from the United States. Some have speculated that the ministry aims to purchase F-16V fighters. Legislators questioned whether the change from F-35 to F-16V, an older fighter jet, can really ensure the military's needs are met.

Do the F-16V fighter jets really suit our needs? You can't say you don't know. Or are you satisfied as long as we get to buy something from the United States and it's better than our current weapons? The F-16V meet our requirements. It's one of our options, it does meet our needs.

The Ministry of Defense stresses that both the F-35 and the F-16V meet their requirements, and that their request to the U.S. is to buy fighters of certain combat capacity, not necessarily a certain model. The ministry also said that it will need to wait for the U.S.' response to decide whether the budget for the fighter jets will be earmarked from the 2020 defense budget or to set aside a special budget. The goal, the ministry said, is to not affect other portions of defense spending. A legislator asks about the timeline for taking delivery of the F-16 jets, to which the ministry responded by saying it's possible to take delivery of 24 jets by year-end.

Our plan (to upgrade with current fleet of F-16 jets), when will it be done?

It's planned for 2023. So I have a question, according to the current plan, can we take delivery of all the jets by 2023? That won't be a problem.

Another topic in discussion is the amendment of article 16 of the Act of Military Service System. The amendment states that the time a cadet spends on training in a military academy can be counted as his or her training in the R.O.C. military, effectively cutting down the training period. The legislators expressed support for the amendment since it makes it more equal for new trainees from different backgrounds.



為了因應中共戰力提升、我空防壓力增加，國防部向美方提出新式戰機「報價需求信函」，對於外傳會是買F-16V，有立委就質疑，原先是想買F-35匿蹤戰機，若改買F-16V是不是一樣符合需求。

國民黨立委 江啟臣 vs. 空軍司令部參謀長 劉任遠：「F-16V是不是符合我們現在要的，你不能講你又不知道了，報告委員就是說，還是說有就好了，我們只要買的到就好，比現在的好就好，現在F-16V 我們提出需求
當然是我們選項之一，是符合的。」

國防部強調F-35、F-16V都是符合需求的選項，但我方是向美國提出戰力需求及規格、不是指定機型。至於增購新戰機的經費，會編列在109年國防預算還是用特別預算，國防部說得等美方回復才能決定，會以不排擠其他國防支出為考量。有立委提到F-16A/B升級案的交機時程，國防部說今年底預估可以交機24架。

民進黨立委 蔡適應 vs. 國防部軍政副部長 沈一鳴：「我們的(F-16升級案)規劃，是20多少年完成？(是(民國)112年)，112年對嘛，那現在我問一個問題，照目前規劃進度來看，112年以前能不能全部交機完畢？ (沒有問題)。」

另外立院週四審查兵役法第16條修正草案，針對軍校生在學期間所受的軍事相關訓練課程，得以折減常備兵役軍事訓練，部分立委說有助於軍校生與普通學校學生服役權利公平，基本上會支持。