Taiwan F-16 Block 70 Delivery: Second Batch of Three Jets

Taiwan’s Minister of National Defence Wellington Koo has confirmed that a second batch of three F-16 Block 70 fighters for the Republic of China Air Force is expected to arrive soon, with the jets already in Hawaii on their delivery flight from Lockheed Martin’s plant in South Carolina. Speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan on November 6, Koo said the ministry would announce the arrival date once it was settled. Aircraft carrying the serials 6729, 6731 and 6732 were photographed landing in Hawaii on November 4, and are expected to continue through Guam to Chihhang Air Base in Taitung County. The batch will bring new-build F-16 deliveries to Taiwan to just five of the 66 ordered, highlighting how far the program has fallen behind a schedule that once promised the whole fleet by the end of 2026.

The U.S. approved the sale of 66 F-16 Block 70 fighters and related equipment in 2019 for around $8 billion, under a program the Air Force calls Feng Xiang, budgeted at NT$247.2 billion. Deliveries were originally planned to run from 2023 until 2026, but technical problems pushed them back repeatedly. On October 23, 2025 the Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Ching-jan told legislators that manpower shortages and supply chain disruption meant the order would not be complete by the end of 2026. The first two jets left the U.S. mainland on August 17 and waited in Hawaii for more than a month without explanation, landing at Chihhang on October 2. Koo stated on September 29 that full delivery this year was impossible, with the Air Force negotiating compensation from the U.S. that may take a non-cash form.

The new fighters are assigned to the 7th Tactical Fighter Wing, established on December 1, 2023 and due to be built up into operational squadrons in three phases, with aircrew and maintenance personnel trained in the U.S. in batches. Koo has described eastern Taiwan as an important stronghold for preserving combat power, and Chihhang sits behind the Central Mountain Range, considerably further from the Chinese mainland than the western air bases. The Block 70s join roughly 140 older F-16A/B fighters brought to the F-16V standard under the Phoenix Rising upgrade completed at the end of 2023. That program fitted the same AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array radar carried by the new jets and by the Block 72 variant ordered by Morocco.

The delays leave the Republic of China Air Force facing a People’s Liberation Army that continues to field fifth generation J-20 stealth fighters and has put new airborne early warning aircraft into serial production. Malaysia, which ordered its jets years later, received its first two FA-50M fighters at Kuantan on October 30. Koo said in early October that some of the remaining F-16s were already ready for delivery, and the ministry has stated that dates for later batches will be set in coordination with Washington. Once the second batch lands at Chihhang, 61 of the 66 aircraft will still be waiting to make the crossing.