Taiwan purchases 66 new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets, the first batch will soon return to Taiwan across the sea

The picture shows an F-16V Block 70 fighter jet. Taiwan has purchased 66 new fighter jets from the United States, and the first batch of new fighter jets will soon return to Taiwan across the sea, unlike the upgraded versions of the old ones. (Taken from the Facebook page of DPP legislator Wang Dingyu)

[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] The first batch of 66 new "F-16V" (F-16 Block 70) fighter jets purchased by my country from the United States will soon return to Taiwan across the sea. This batch of fighters is not modified from old aircraft, but is Block 70 newly manufactured by the original American factory. There are differences from the upgraded versions of the old aircraft in terms of structural life and radar configuration.

The military news website "Defense News" reported that what Taiwan received was not a "retrofit" version of the old aircraft used by some allies, but a brand new model manufactured by the original American manufacturer. The newspaper also pointed out that many countries in the world, such as South Korea upgrading KF-16 and Singapore upgrading F-16D, mostly send old aircraft that have been in service for many years back to the factory for avionics modification. Due to the early airframe structure, the lifespan of the airframe and the internal wiring harness space are also limited by the existing design.

In comparison, the Block 70, which is built at Lockheed Martin's F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina, is a brand-new model when it leaves the factory.

Advantages of the original new machine: structural life of up to 12,000 hours

Combining defense media and original factory technical information, the newly manufactured F-16 Block 70 has two main features in hardware design.

The first is "structural life". According to the technical specifications disclosed by the original Lockheed Martin factory, the structural service life of the newly produced F-16 Block 70 reaches 12,000 flight hours, which can provide a long service life of the airframe under long-term flight use.

The second is "radar and power generation configuration". The Block 70's nose internal space, heat dissipation channel and generator capacity are built according to the requirements of the AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. It is paired with a new body design to provide the hardware conditions required for subsequent avionics system integration.

With the delivery of the first batch of F-16V Block 70 back to Taiwan, these newly manufactured fighters equipped with AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars have been delivered to the Air Force one after another. The progress of subsequent delivery will also continue to attract attention.