Taipei Aug. 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Thursday that a proposed arms package, comprising infrared search and track systems (IRST) for the country’s fleet of F-16V aircraft, will vastly improve their long-range detection and target tracking, significantly boosting its air-to-air combat capabilities.
The proposed package comes at an opportune time, as daily incursions and flybys by Chinese warplanes and drones have become the norm, the MND said in a statement released one day after the U.S. Pentagon notified Congress of the prospective arms sale.
Military experts in Taiwan expressed similar views, with one of them saying that IRSTs can allow fighter jets to track the infrared energy from enemy aircraft, without activating radar.
Not only do IRSTs improve flight safety, but when mounted on the 4.5-gen F-16Vs, they will boost the jets’ ability to detect Chinese J-20 fighter jets — a fifth-generation stealth aircraft — narrowing the performance gap between the two, said Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow at the Kuomintang think tank National Policy Foundation.
Due to the J-20s specially designed fuselages that reduce radar reflections, when a radar system picks up the signal of a J-20, it is often closer than indicated, Chieh said.
With the help of the IRSTs, pilots will be able to determine earlier how close the enemy aircraft are, thereby gaining more response time, Chieh said.
The proposed sale of the IRSTs to Taiwan indicates that Washington has taken note of the challenges posed by China’s J-20s and wants to bolster Taiwan’s capabilities to respond to those challenges, he said.
IRSTs are pods mounted on aircraft that are capable of picking up the heat signatures of another aircraft, such as its engine exhaust, according to Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a scholar at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
In 2020, the U.S. military launched an IRST upgrade program called the IRST-21, and the resultant product has been used on F-15 and F-16 fighters to target stealth jets and small drones that have small radar footprints, Su said.
When Taiwan takes delivery of the IRSTs, it will be able to more effectively counter Chinese stealth fighter jets such as the J-20s, Su said.
The advanced sensor systems will allow F-16V fighter jets to hit enemy aircraft with AIM-20 missiles, beyond visual range, he said.
Coupled with the F-16V’s superior dogfighting capabilities, that will give it an edge over stealth aircraft in close proximity, as the latter often have less maneuverability due to their shape — a trade-off that gives the stealth planes a smaller footprint, Su said.
The U.S.’ decision to sell Taiwan the IRSTs also signifies deepening mutual trust, Su said, noting that to date, the U.S. had sold those systems or their equivalent only to its treaty-bound allies such as South Korea and Finland.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Office issued a statement Thursday, expressing thanks to the U.S. for agreeing to the arms sale, the third this year and the 11th since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
The Presidential Office thanks the U.S. for honoring its pledges, in keeping the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances, to offer weapons to support Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, Presidential Office spokeswoman Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said in the statement.
The decision indicates that U.S. attaches high importance to Taiwan’s defense needs, Lin said.
Taiwan will continue to demonstrate its resolve to shore up self-defense and civil defense, uphold national security, deepen its partnership with the U.S. in the areas of security and work with like-minded countries to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, Lin said.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it welcomes Washington’s decision, which comes at a time when Taiwan is facing increasing Chinese military expansion and provocation.
