DEFENSE/Taiwan, U.S. sign US$345 million deal for F-16V tracking systems

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Taiwan has signed an NT$11.25 billion (US$345 million) contract with the United States to procure infrared search and track systems that, according to a military source, will be used for F-16V fighter jets.

According to a notice posted Friday on the Government e-Procurement System, the deal to procure "infrared search and track (IRST) systems" was signed by the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan's official title) Defense Mission to the U.S.A. and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on June 25.

The contract is valid from the day it was signed to Dec. 31, 2030.

The systems, which were first announced in an arms sale package of the IRSTs and 16 related items on Aug. 23, 2023, will be used on Taiwan's fleet of 66 F-16V fighter jets ordered from the U.S., a military source with knowledge of the matter told CNA.

According to the notice on the government procurement system, the contract's supervising agency is the ROC Air Force, with an address corresponding to the Zhi-Hang Air Base in Taitung County where the F-16Vs will be stationed.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said the new-generation IRST systems were developed specifically for the F-16V and will vastly enhance the fighters' target acquisition and tracking capabilities and overall air combat performance.

Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), a scholar with the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told CNA last year that the IRSTs could be effectively deployed against China's fifth-generation fighters.

He said the systems are capable of picking up heat signatures emitted by aircraft such as engine exhaust and heat generated by friction between the fuselage and the air, giving it the upper hand on China's new fighters, which would be otherwise hard to detect due to their compact radar cross-section.