Taiwan Gets First Two US F-16V Jets After Years of Delay
Taiwan has received its first two F-16V Block 70 fighter jets from the United States. The aircraft landed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung at noon on Friday after flying in via Hawaii and Guam.
The two jets are the first of a batch of 66 ordered in 2019. The United States approved the $8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16Vs that year. Delivery was delayed for months by software problems. The deal will take Taiwan’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets.
Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters that more new F-16Vs would arrive soon. “Of course we won’t only have delivered these two by year-end,” he said. President Lai Ching-te called the arrival an important step for Taiwan’s air defence and thanked the United States.
The delivery came about a week after US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. Trump said in May that he was holding a new $14 billion arms package for Taiwan in abeyance. He had approved an $11 billion package in December 2025.
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