Taiwan’s air force has grounded its F-16 fleet and suspended training missions on the jet after one of the planes and the pilot went missing earlier this week.
The search continues for the pilot and aircraft, which officials believe went down following an in-flight “anomaly,” but rough seas off the island have made efforts difficult.
On Tuesday night local time, an American-made F-16 fighter jet assigned to the Taiwan Air Force’s Fifth Tactical Air Wing operating out of Hualien Air Base went missing in the waters off the northeast coast of the island. The Air Force said the fighter was separated from a group during a nighttime training session after the jets entered cloud cover.
The F-16 suddenly descended quickly. Its altitude was just 1,700 feet when radar contact was lost. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense has identified the missing pilot as Capt. Hsin Po-yi. Officials remain unsure whether Hsin successfully ejected from the aircraft, although he had indicated he would eject seconds before the aircraft disappeared. It’s unclear if he did.
In the days since the incident, a search and rescue mission has been ongoing in the waters off Hualien County. Multiple aircraft and vessels have been involved in the mission, but tall waves and strong winds have been complicating the search for the jet and Hsin.
Air Force officials told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday that there appeared to be a malfunction of the F-16’s main onboard computer in which the aircraft’s flight path was no longer displayed.
Now, Taiwanese air force officials have grounded all of Taiwan’s F-16 fleet for inspections, and training missions have been temporarily suspended. Taiwan currently has about 140 F-16s, the older A/B models, that it has upgraded in recent years. It is expected to receive a batch of the newer F-16V or Viper jets in the coming years to add to its fleet.
The F-16 is made by American defense giant Lockheed Martin. Though it’s been flying for over 50 years, it still represents a highly capable fourth-generation jet. The newest operator of the aircraft is Ukraine, which received a limited number from NATO partner nations.
This crash involving the Taiwanese military follows a similar incident that occurred in January 2022, when a Taiwanese F-16 went down off the island’s west coast while taking part in training exercises. At the time, the F-16 went missing after taking off from Chiayi Air Base in southern Taiwan. In response, Taiwan suspended its combat training for the fleet.
It’s not uncommon to see fleets grounded after accidents, especially if the cause is unclear. The US military has done this regularly.
Taiwan’s Air Force has been strained in recent years by constant scrambling to track Chinese military aircraft, which regularly fly into the country’s air defense identification zone. Taipei’s smaller air force has experienced higher operational tempos that have exhausted pilots, aircraft, and resources and stressed maintainers. Most recently, Taiwan held rapid response drills in reaction to China’s massive exercises nearby.
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