Diplomat Says US To Consider F-16 Sale To Taiwan

Sridhar

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Diplomat Says US To Consider Sale Of F-16 Fighter Jets To Taiwan


(AP) The de facto U.S. ambassador in Taiwan said Friday the Obama administration will consider the contentious sale of F-16 fighter jets to the island after key American officials are settled into their jobs.

The comments by Stephen Young of the American Institute in Taiwan come amid strong opposition to the sale by China because of its view that the U.S. has no business providing arms to a territory Beijing claims as its own.

Earlier this week China raised the issue of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan during its first high-level bilateral military dialogue with the Americans in 18 months. Beijing suspended the talks in late 2007 because of the Taiwan arms sales issue.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Young said Washington will continue to help Taiwan enhance its security and the sale of the 66 F-16 C/D jets is still on the table.

"As (senior officials) get into place, they will continue to look closely at this whole question," Young said, adding Washington does not consult with Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan.

Young cited Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, National Security adviser Jeffrey Bader, and Assistant Secretary of Defense Wallace Gregson as officials who will be involved in the F-16 matter.

The U.S. transferred its recognition of China from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but is obligated by law to provide the island the means to defend itself.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

Taiwan initially requested the F-16s during the administration of its former President Chen Shu-bian, who said they were necessary to help Taiwan counter a decade-long Chinese military buildup.

China continues to threaten Taiwan with an attack if the democratic island moves to make its break with the mainland permanent. Chen was a strong advocate of formal Taiwanese independence.

Since assuming office 13 months ago, Chen successor Ma Ying-jeou has said repeatedly that he too wants the F-16s, despite his policy of pushing for better relations with Beijing.

Diplomat Says US To Consider F-16 Sale To Taiwan - CBS News
 

Sridhar

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Coping with the Chinese threat, US F-16 sales to Taiwan will help
Posted by vkthakur on Friday, June 26, 2009 (EST)
A US hint that the sale of 66 F-16 C/D jets to Taiwan is still on the table should come as good news for India.
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A US hint that the sale of 66 F-16 C/D jets to Taiwan is still on the table should come as good news for India. Photo Credit: Lockheed

June 26, 2009, (Sawf News) - A US hint that the sale of 66 F-16 C/D jets to Taiwan is still on the table should come as good news for India.

Unless the Obama administration stands up to the Chinese military expansion and increasingly aggressive posture, the emerging super power may well be emboldened to flex its military muscle for its long term strategic aims in Asia - Cutting India down to size for example.

A serious incursion into Arunachal, for example, is all China needs to do to humiliate India, crush its regional power ambitions and set it back economically for decades.

The move would indirectly humiliate the US too, sending a strong message to Asian countries that it does not pay to align with the US.

Having built their infrastructure in Tibet, China must be seeing a window of opportunity, which will close once India raises its guard by sprucing up its infrastructure along the border and raising additional mountain divisions.

The US is currently preoccupied with its war against terror, particularly in Afghanistan. A couple of years down the line, having stabilized Afghanistan, the US maybe able to focus a lot better on managing China, and that is not something the Chinese are likely to wait for.

Coping with the Chinese threat, US F-16 sales to Taiwan will help
 
J

John

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Is F16 Superior to MKI's?
No the Block 52 is not superior to the Mki, but during simulations on Allied Force, i often kill 3 to 4 Su-30mkk in BVR kills and Allied Force is the same software used to train F-16 pilots on their full scale simulators at airbases. I have roughly 450 hours on the F-16 Sim and i play matches often killing Mig-29S, Mig-31s, Su-27s, Su-30mkk, mig-25s, mirages and Jaguars and mostly use the Aim-120 B to kill them.

But i must confess i have never killed a Typhoon or F-22 so far, i always try to Range while scan and Track while scan but the Typhoon always fires passively, though i can out run those missiles often but after 4 to 5 missile misses the Typhoon ends up shooting me down. The Su-37 is also formidable, i have only managed to kill the Su-37 a couple of times using the Aim-9L or Aim-9m. I have roughly 170 A2A kills and 1300 A2G kills and no cheats of any kind and have been shot down around 30 times. except the F-22, Su-37 and Typhoon i am confident of killing all the other threats in the sim and the sim is very realistic.

Too bad the Rafale is not in the threat directory, it would be gr8 to fly against it. most of the time the F-16 can take on 3 to 4 (4th) gen aircraft from far away and i always get first shot and realize the threats often do not run immediately and only start turning and running around 25 second after launch which indicates the launch is not detected by them as soon as i launch. Only the f-15, F-18, F-22, Mirages, Su-37, Typhoon, start running as soon as i launch a missiles

Usually launch ranges for the aim-120B depend on altitude and speed, usually i prefer over 30000 ft and i launch at speeds over mach 1.2 and launch ranges are consistently between 22 to 25 NM around 44 to 48 km when the missile has the most effective kinematic kill range. when fighting multiple targets the first launch is always at ranges over 48km but the second shot at the second target i end up launching at around 44 km because to get a radar lock on the passive radar takes 15 seconds or more. While still holding to my current position missile in air gets mid course updates and i hold till they fire at me.

In the mean time if the threats are Su-30mkk or su-27 or mirages , one of them lets off an R-77 or a R-27, mica but at these long ranges they always miss me because i put the ECM with automatic counter measures dispensing and hence detect missiles as soon as they are launched the ECM lets a off a few Chaffs and flares and i go into a dive and turn tail and run, usually a steep dive with full burn by the time my altitude is 14000 i am already past mach 1.4, putting the fcs at overdrive gives the ability to pull heavy Gs over 9.4 to 9.8 Gs meanwhile letting off more chaffs and flares. Normally i get very low down to below 100 ft more chaffs and flares and pull up because i am still maintaining speeds of mach 1.5+ and hence i pull up which makes sure the missile looses kinematic energy due to my steep climb, the speed makes sure i get to 21 K feet still with speeds around mach 1.2 and turn around and let off the third shot and kill the third enemy, the radar at this point is in track while scan mode.

In most cases flying against similar threats like mirages, su-27s, su-30mkk, mig-31 etc one missile misses my target and i have to get a second shot at it, 3 threats are fun to handle, 4 threats of su-30mkk or similar aircraft is more of a challenge and 5 su-30mkk is also gr8 but in most cases i am shot down as well because in many cases at the end of the match i have already dodged over 10 enemy missiles and if the enemy fires at around 15 NM away, the missile becomes harder to avoid, i'll try to post of such battles on video.
 

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