More than likely France would be involved. You would need some work done on them, upgrades,checks by OEM......Also I am pretty sure France has the same kind of regs like USA, you can't just sell stuff to someone else without asking for France permission. Finally, it 's 60 jets, without new spares, more missiles, you would be buying a lot of hangar queens, which would defeat the purpose of the buy.
US freezes arms sales to Taiwan
- Thread starter eaf-f16
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France has to pay about 1 billion US$ of penalty for bribery during the La Fayette frigates contract. I don't see any chances of France willing to sign new contracts now.
They really don't have a choice if they want their defense industry to stay afloat.. w/o foreign sales, all those advanced systems are hardly affordable.
Musashi_kenshin
Well-Known Member
Indeed. In fact France might like to get that $1 billion back! But I have a feeling that the French won't sell new jets or upgrades, because it thinks there's more money to be made by cosying up to China.
Actually they do give a damn as Russia makes a lot of money from China. Apart from China being a large customer of military equipment, it also receives a lot of technology transfers from Russia, as China's military industrial complex has not reach a stage where it can do way with the need for foreign partners. Than there are also strategic issues at hand. Russia needs China to continue ensuring the DPRK behaves, and Russia need China's cooperation in Central Asia as both have common interests and concerns there.
How is Taiwan getting agressive?
France probably felt betrayed. Why would Taiwan sue one of the few countries willing to sell weapons if they Taiwan wanted good relationships? It's like biting the hand that feeds you. And a large part of the money actually went to Beijing officials, without it the deal couldn't have been done.
I have gotten the impression that China has significantly reduced its arms purchases from Russia. At the same time Russia has been more wary about selling advanced systems to China due to the likelihood China will just reverse engineer these and come up with a Chinese equivalent. China is still in the market for selective Russian tech (e.g. jet engines) but have achieved a significant level of self-sufficiency.
I think Russia would jump at the opportunity to sell taiwan 60 modern jets.
Musashi_kenshin
Well-Known Member
Maybe because the French stopped selling them anything meaningful a very long time ago? After the Mirage and frigate sale, Paris was more interested in currying favour with Beijing than Taipei.
It's true that China has cut down on it's Russia weapons imports, but China also happens to be one of Russia's biggest trading partners, and there is MUCH MUCH more to be made in that relationship than with 60 fighter jets to Taiwan.
Twinblade
Member
Russia happens to be one of the major supplier of energy for an energy hungry economy and this supply shall remain unaffected in case Mallaca is blocked for Chinese. So Russians still have a major upper hand.
fretburner
Banned Member
Would you folks know if Taiwan has other stand-off weapons and cruise missiles apart from those they developed themselves? Would it be rather too provocative for the US to sell JASSM and/or SLAM-ER to Taiwan as a package to upgrading their existing F-16s?
cyberstranger
New Member
According to Strategy Page, Taiwan has revealed it is developing clones of the Predator and X-47 UAVs
I believe they ordered ATACMs.
U.S. Congress making push for F-16 sale to Taiwan
I have been seeing in the news lately various figures in Washington pushing legislation through that would allow the sale of 66 F-16C/D's to the Island of Taiwan to bolster the islands ability to defend itself from attack and coercion. My question is, is this more of a symbolic move or does changing attitudes regarding the Western Pacific region actually mean there is a real possibility of Taiwan receiving some more advanced fighter aircraft? Also such a move is said to allow the F-16 production lines to remain open. It seems to me what with declining U.S. military budgets and Chinese military capabilities seemingly on the rise it makes sense to bolster Taiwan's defense capabilities as a deterrent to war.
I have been seeing in the news lately various figures in Washington pushing legislation through that would allow the sale of 66 F-16C/D's to the Island of Taiwan to bolster the islands ability to defend itself from attack and coercion. My question is, is this more of a symbolic move or does changing attitudes regarding the Western Pacific region actually mean there is a real possibility of Taiwan receiving some more advanced fighter aircraft? Also such a move is said to allow the F-16 production lines to remain open. It seems to me what with declining U.S. military budgets and Chinese military capabilities seemingly on the rise it makes sense to bolster Taiwan's defense capabilities as a deterrent to war.
Ananda
The Bunker Group
Seems the latest Taiwanese 2 F-5 crash, can be blessing in disguise. The incident create momentum from pro-Taiwanese legislators in US Congress to push for 66 new Block 52 F-16 that Taiwan wants as F-5 replacement.
U.S. House Legislation Urges F-16 Sales to Taiwan - Defense News
U.S. House Legislation Urges F-16 Sales to Taiwan - Defense News
From what I can tell, this won't be a deterrence but rather a aggravation. Each time the U.S has announced arms sales to Taiwan, China has cut of most it's diplomatic and military relations with the U.S.
I don't see how that can be helpful maintaining peace if China is fuming p1ssed.
P.S - I'm not too clear on Taiwan's military capabilities, but will these 66 F-16's actually make a difference at all ?, or are we just talking about adding a pinch of salt to the 2L of Coke.
Taiwan currently has a fleet of 146 F-16 A/B aircrafts which is plenty enough to protect the island nation in the event of a surprise attack plus it also has a fleet of 56 French Mirage 2005-5s fighter jets and an additional 126 indigenous fighter aircrafts, so the request for the purchase of any additional aircrafts from the US should not be warranted at this point...
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7678011&c=ASI&s=TOP
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7678011&c=ASI&s=TOP
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Taiwan has sufficient fighter aircrafts to defend the island nation with a fleet of about 146 F-16 A/B, 56 French Mirage 2000-5s and another 126 indigenous warplanes hence the request for an additional purchase of 66 F-16 C/D aircraft from the US should not be warranted at this time but the upgrade package for the existing F-16 A/B should be provided soon...