Tendering process to recover crashed advanced trainer jet underway: MND

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday it was seeking a private contractor to recover the Brave Eagle advanced jet trainer that crashed into the sea in waters off eastern Taiwan on Feb. 15.

Once a contractor has been commissioned, the Air Force will assign personnel to board salvage vessels to aid with efforts to locate and recover the aircraft, Air Force Major General Yu Te-chung (虞德忠) told an MND news conference.

The Air Force on Feb. 15 asked the Coast Guard Administration to search for and salvage the wreckage of the plane but has so far only retrieved two pieces of the aircraft's left wing, with the flight recorder crucial to determining the cause of the crash yet to be recovered, according to Yu's debrief.

Asked whether a "bird strike" could have been the cause of the accident, as some experts have suggested, Yu said the Air Force could not rule out the possibility.

However, the pilot did not report a burning smell or any unusual vibrations from the engines, as would be the case in a bird strike, Yu noted.

Although the pilot reported a sudden loss of power, the aircraft's maintenance log showed no record of any noteworthy malfunction prior to flight, Yu added.

Asked when the country's fleet of Brave Eagles, which have been temporarily grounded after the incident, will resume operation, Yu said that will have to wait until the remaining aircraft undergo a thorough safety check to ensure that any possible mechanical cause that could have led to the incident has been identified.

The process will not take too long, or it could hamper the training of pilots, he added.

The Brave Eagle is a locally developed and built advanced jet trainer manufactured by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation under a partnership with Taiwan's weapons developer National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and unveiled in 2019.

The MND expects to take delivery of all 66 Brave Eagle aircraft it ordered by 2026 and has received 41 since 2021.