Two Taiwanese fighter jets collided today in the third such crash in the last half year. This comes at a time when the armed forces on the island intercept Chinese planes almost daily, Reuters reported.
The Taiwanese Air Force says two F-5E fighters, each with one pilot on board, crashed into the sea off the island’s southeast coast after apparently colliding in the open air during a training mission. One pilot was found and flown by helicopter to a hospital, but later died and the other went missing, Taiwan Air Force Chief of Staff Huang Zhuwei told reporters. He added that the planes were in good technical condition.
All F-5 aircraft of the Taiwanese Air Force are currently suspended from flights, and all training missions have been suspended, Juan said. The US-made F-5s were adopted in Taiwan in the 1970s and are not currently on combat duty. The only exceptions are a small number, which are used as training aircraft and as reinforcements for Taiwan’s main fighter jets.
In October, the F-5 crashed again, killing the pilot. A month later, a much more modern F-16 crashed off the east coast of Taiwan, killing the pilot. In January last year, the Taiwanese army chief was among eight victims of a helicopter crash in a mountainous area near the capital, Taipei, while traveling to visit military units.
These accidents have raised concerns about both training and technical condition, but also about the pressure the Taiwanese air force is responding to on Chinese flights off the island. Taiwan’s defense ministry has warned that Chinese planes, including drones, have repeatedly flown into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone to deplete the Taiwanese air force. Although the Taiwanese Air Force is well trained and well equipped, mostly with American equipment, the difference in the balance of power between them and the Chinese.
Beijing sees the democratic island as its territory and has never given up the use of force as a possible means of regaining control of it, Reuters notes.
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