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Updated Friday, July 1, 2011 0:00 am TWN, By Joseph Yeh, The China Post



	President Ma Ying-jeou waves from the cockpit of a newly-upgraded Indigenous Defensive Fighter (IDF) jet in Taichung, yesterday. CNA Enlarge Photo

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Taiwan should build its own jet fighters: Ma

President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday pledged that the country will not give up the goal to build its own jet fighters instead of relying on imported ones to express the country's resolution to defend itself.

　“I have asked the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) (漢翔航空工業) to jointly work together in developing and building trainer aircraft,” said Ma.

“Building our own aircraft to defend our country is our long-standing goal and we will continue to push toward that direction,” he added.

The president also said that, as an independent sovereign state, the Republic of China need to build a strong armed force to defend itself — even with the warming cross-strait ties.

The president made the comment during a ceremony to receive Taiwan's first six upgraded Indigenous Defensive Fighters (IDF) as part of an improvement project to beef up the country's air defense capability.

The locally-built IDF “Ching-Kuo” (經國號) fighters was developed and manufactured by the AIDC in 1988. The aircraft was named after the late President Chiang Ching-Kuo.

In a move to upgrade these fighters, the MND has decided to spend NT$17 billion upgrading 71 IDFs as part of a four-year project which began in 2009. The air force currently has more than 130 IDFs.

During yesterday's ceremony, Ma recalled that critics had cast doubt over these local fighters' combat readiness when the design first showed up more than two decades ago.

“Many people laughed at these fighters, saying the initials 'IDF' should stand for 'I don't fly,'” Ma said.

However, these fighters have proven their defense capability over the 20 years in service and now the IDF should stand for “I do fly,” “I do fight,” and “I don't fail,” he said.

　　The decision to upgrade these local fighters was made in the absence of a deal with the United States government on the sale of F16 C/D jets or the upgrade of Taiwan's current F16 A/Bs.

The IDF upgrade package includes a digital cockpit, improved radar and countermeasures, as well as a new 32-bit digital flight control computer.

The improved fighters can also be armed with locally made air-to-air missiles to increase its combat readiness.

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