Taiwan has received the first batch of American-made F-16 (Viper) Block-70/72 fighter jets!

US aviation giant Lockheed Martin has handed over the first of 66 newly built F-16 fighter jets to the Taiwanese government at a ceremony at its Greenville, South Carolina facility. Taiwan is considering this as a milestone in the modernization of its air force. Currently, the Taiwanese Air Force has a total of about 141 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets of various series operational.

The Taiwanese Air Force currently has a total of about 490 aircraft operational. Of these, 290 are combat aircraft. As a first-line fighter aircraft, Taiwan currently has 141 upgraded F-16A/B series Block-70/72 Fighting Falcons (26 F-16B Block-72 trainer variants) fighter jets. In addition, there are 46 Mirage-2000 fighter jets and a total of 103 AIDC F-CK-1 Ching Ku multirole aircraft made with its own technology.

Meanwhile, although the Chinese Air Force has a total of about 2,989 combat aircraft, China has never dared to conduct air combat missions over the Taiwanese mainland since 1958. Basically, on September 24, 1958, a fierce air battle began when more than 125 MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighter jets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force simultaneously entered Taiwan's skies.

However, with American assistance, the Taiwanese Air Force quickly sent more than fifty F-86 Sabre jet fighters equipped with American-made AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to intercept the Chinese fighter jets. Although a large number of Chinese fighter jets participated in this war, they were defeated miserably by America's newly developed AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

As of December 2024, 27 countries around the world, including the United States, Ukraine, and Argentina, currently operate a total of 2,145 F-16 fighter jets of various series. The most modern and upgraded version of these is the F-16 (Viper) Block-70/72 Fighting Falcon fighter jet. However, very few countries operate this series of fighter jets. Even the United States' own Air Force has not yet entered service with the Viper series of fighter jets.

Although the F-16 fighter jet first flew in the sky in 1974, it first entered service with the United States Air Force on August 17, 1978. Moreover, from 1974 to December 2024, a total of about 4,800 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft were produced in various series and blocks. However, the US Air Force and Navy operate the largest number of F-16 fighter aircraft as a single country, with 897 different series.

In addition to the US, Egypt operates 218, Turkey 243, Israel 224, South Korea 167, Greece 154 and Taiwan 137 (66 new orders have been placed) and Pakistan operates 75 different series of F-16 fighter aircraft. In addition, other countries that use F-16 fighter jets include Indonesia (33), Singapore (60), Jordan (59), Belgium (53), Thailand (50), Poland (48), Chile (46), Netherlands (26), Portugal (25), Oman (23), Morocco (23), Denmark (43), Iraq (34), and the United Arab Emirates (76).

In addition, Venezuela, the only country in the US opposition camp, has 15 F-16A/B series fighter jets in its air force. Currently, the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet is manufactured or assembled by the Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey, in addition to the United States. In particular, South Korea's Samsung Company and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produce such fighter jets in their own countries using their own technology.

References: - Wikipedia, The Defense Post, Bulgarian Military, Eurasian Times.