Taiwan Moves Its IDF And Mirage Jets In Response To Chinese ADIZ Incursions
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: May 22, 2022 09:45AM UTC
Last Modified: May 22, 2022 09:45AM UTC
TAIWAN - Taiwan is moving its Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF) and Mirage 2000 jets to Penghu in the Taiwan Strait, and Taitung on the east coast in response to the constant incursions by Chinese military aircraft within Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
The incursions by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ commonly occur close to the island, usually to the southwest of the island, sometimes in the southeast sector of the ADIZ, and are obviously intentional, despite propaganda often shared on social media claiming that the incursions happen far from the island of Taiwan.
On Friday, May 20th Taiwan's Air Force stated that it moved its IDF jets to a base in Magong, Penghu County, and their Mirage jets to Taitung County in the southeast according to the Taiwanese newspaper the Liberty Times.
IDF jets are multirole fighters manufactured by Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation. Taiwan began the IDF program after the United States refused to sell them F-20 Tigershark and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets after being pressured by China not to sell them to Taiwan.
Member of the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan Jiang Qichen said that Chinese aircraft have recently been intruding on Taiwan's eastern airspace, so a special arrangement has been made to visit the Taitung Air Force Zhihang Base.
Qichen [based on translation] expressed concern about the Taiwanese Air Force's combat readiness and refitting. To increase combat readiness, Taiwan will be deploying the latest F-16V fighters 'in the future' to strengthen the island's eastern air defense, according to Taiwan's Liberty Times.
Taiwan News reported that defense analysts believe that the frequent incursions into Taiwan's ADIZ by Chinese military aircraft are meant to both collect information and wear out Taiwan's Air Force.
