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A Taiwanese F-16 fighter jet and its pilot went missing off the island’s northeastern coast on Tuesday.
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In response, Taiwan’s air force has grounded its F-16 fleet and suspended training missions.
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Search and rescue operations are still ongoing. It is unclear whether the pilot ejected.
Taiwan’s air force has grounded its F-16 fleet and suspended training missions with the aircraft after one of the planes and pilot went missing earlier this week.
The search for the pilot and the plane, which officials believe crashed due to an “anomaly” in flight, continues, but rough seas around the island are making the search difficult.
On Tuesday night local time, a US-made F-16 fighter jet belonging to the Taiwan Air Force’s 5th Tactical Air Wing and performing missions at Hualien Air Force Base disappeared in the waters off the northeastern coast of Taiwan. The Air Force said the fighter jet became separated from a group of people during a night training exercise after the plane entered cloud cover.
The F-16 descended suddenly and rapidly. It was only at an altitude of 1,700 feet when radar contact was lost. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has identified the missing pilot as Captain Xin Boyi. Officials remain unsure whether Sheen successfully ejected from the plane, although he said he would eject seconds before the plane disappeared. It’s unclear whether he did so.
In the past few days since the incident, search and rescue operations in the waters of Hualien County have continued. Multiple planes and ships were involved in the mission, but large waves and strong winds complicated the search for the plane and Sheen.
Air Force officials told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the F-16’s main onboard computer appeared to have malfunctioned and no longer displayed the plane’s flight path.
Now, Taiwan Air Force officials have grounded all Taiwan’s F-16 fleet for inspection, and training missions have been temporarily suspended. Taiwan currently operates about 140 F-16s, which are older A/B models that have been upgraded in recent years. It is expected to receive a batch of newer F-16V or Viper jets in the coming years to bolster its fleet.
The F-16 is manufactured by American defense giant Lockheed Martin. Although it has been flying for more than 50 years, it still represents the fourth generation of high-performance jets. The latest operator of the aircraft is Ukraine, which receives a limited number of aircraft from NATO partner countries.
The crash involving Taiwan’s military follows a similar incident in January 2022, when a Taiwanese F-16 crashed off Taiwan’s west coast while participating in a training exercise. At that time, the F-16 disappeared after taking off from Chiayi Air Force Base in southern Taiwan. In response, Taiwan suspended its fleet’s combat training.
It is not uncommon for a fleet to be grounded after an accident, especially if the cause is unknown. The U.S. military does this all the time.
In recent years, the Taiwan Air Force has been tense due to its continuous emergency tracking of Chinese military aircraft, which often fly into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. Taipei’s smaller air force experienced a higher operational tempo that exhausted pilots, aircraft and resources and stressed maintenance personnel. Recently, Taiwan held rapid response exercises in response to China’s large-scale drills nearby.
Read the original article on Business Insider
