The United States has delivered two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets to Taiwan, the first of 66 aircraft the island bought for $8 billion to build up its defenses against a feared attack by China.
The Lockheed Martin-built jets landed on Friday after months of delay, a wait Al Jazeera attributed to repeated requests from Beijing that Washington stop arming Taiwan. The sale itself dates to President Donald Trump’s first term: the State Department approved the package in August 2019, and Taiwan signed the formal agreement for the 66 jets a year later.
The delivery lands at an uneasy moment. Taipei has grown increasingly concerned about the Trump administration’s commitment to arming the island, a worry sharpened this year by stalled weapons transfers and mixed signals from Washington. China claims Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.
The program, which Taiwan calls Peace Phoenix Soaring, has run well behind schedule. All 66 aircraft were initially expected in hand by the end of 2026, but COVID-19 disrupted supply chains and Lockheed Martin moved F-16 production to a plant in Greenville, S.C., according to Focus Taiwan reporting cited by Business Insider Africa. Delivery had at one point been projected for 2024.
The Block 70 is the most advanced version of the F-16, a design now 50 years old. It carries an active electronically scanned array radar, an F110 engine and beyond-visual-range combat capability, according to The Defense Post. Taiwan already knows the jet well. It bought 150 F-16A/Bs from the United States in the 1990s and upgraded 141 of them to the F-16V standard under a separate program.
Two jets down, 64 to go. With the original end-of-2026 deadline now just months away and most of the order undelivered, the question for Taipei is no longer whether the planes will come, but when.