Taiwan and VSTOL
Taiwan plans to buy third-generation warplanes
Taipei: Taiwan plans to buy third-generation warplanes and upgrade its fleet of F-16s and Mirage 2000-5s to boost its defences against the China, a media report said Sunday.
"Our air force has drawn up the plan for third-generation warplanes, the most important feature is that they must be able to take off and land vertically," the China Times quoted Air Force Commander-in-Chief Liu Kui-li as saying. "If China attacks Taiwan, its first target will be Taiwan's airbases. So if our warplanes can take off and land vertically, it can reduce their chance of being destroyed," he said.
Liu said the Taiwan Air Force "really wants" the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) but the US had not agreed to sell them to Taiwan..... "So we maintain an open attitude, that is, so long as the jets can take off and land vertically, they can be our third-generation warplanes. They do not necessarily have to be US jets," the daily quoted Liu as saying.......
Taiwan ordered 150 F-16s and 60 Mirage 2000-5s in 1992. Their service life can last for another 15-20 years but the air force is planning to deploy third-generation warplanes by 2020.
To fill in the gap between now and the deployment of third-generation warplanes, Taiwan hopes to buy second-hand F-15s from the US Air Force, Defence Minister Lee Jye said Thurday. "We made the request to the US last year, but the US has not approved it," he told reporters.
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OK, I give up. Apart from the JSF, name me another 3rd generation VSTOL aircraft that will be in production in the 2020s........