Although the other side seems to have an unknown source of confidence in its own military power, and is still conducting a large number of arms purchase transactions to enhance its strength, the reality is very cruel, and the actual level of its military power is definitely not optimistic. According to a report from the Global Times quoted by the Russian Satellite Network on October 29th, in the early morning of the 29th, a Taiwanese F-5E fighter jet stopped its engine two minutes after takeoff. Although the pilot escaped by parachuting, he not only fell into the water after parachuting, but was also The parachute rope is entangled and draught a lot. Although rescuers who came later rescued him, they still declared that the rescue was invalid and died. This was the most serious accident in Taiwan's military in the past two years.
(Historical photos of the F-5 fighter aircraft received by the Taiwan military)
Regarding this incident, the Taiwan military quickly made its own response. Taiwan’s Air Force Command has stated that all F-5 fighter fleets will begin today. Stop the flight and conduct a comprehensive inspection to eliminate the problem. Although the F-5 fighter is a second-generation fighter , there are still dozens of them in service in the Taiwan military. The grounding of all these F-5 fighters is still very serious to the Taiwan military.
However, judging from the situation of Taiwan's F-5 fighters, this kind of accident is inevitable. It stands to reason that all Taiwan's F-5 fighters should have been retired long ago. As a classic second-generation aircraft, the F-5 fighter jet first entered Taiwan in the form of overseas military assistance (MAP). Starting in 1965, 92 F-5A and 23 F-5B were directly sent to Taiwan. In the later period, F-5 fighters were authorized by the United States to produce Taiwan. A total of 242 F-5Es and 66 F-5Fs were produced. Today, these fighters are still partially in service in the Taiwan military. Like other second-generation aircraft, the F-5 series fighters are quite old and their quality problems are quite serious. As early as 2011, the Taiwan military stated that the appropriateness rate of the RF-5E reconnaissance aircraft and the F-5F two-seater combat trainer was below the minimum limit and announced a grounded inspection. In 2013, the Kuomintang "legislator" Lin Yufang pointed out that all F-5 fighters should be completely decommissioned in 2019. Gao Huazhu, then head of Taiwan's defense department, also stated that the F-5 series of trainers will also be replaced.
However, seven years have passed from 2013 to today. The Taiwan military still has not gotten rid of its dependence on these outdated F-5 fighters and still uses them for training and cruise missions. These overwhelmed old aircraft continue to be used, and problems are inevitable. Take this accident as an example. As a dual-engine fighter, the F-5 fighter can theoretically continue to fly safely even if one engine fails. This time, two engines fail at the same time, which is quite rare. If it were not for the pilot’s bad luck, it means that the engine quality of the Taiwan’s F-5 fighter jet is already quite inferior.
(J85 engine of F-5 fighter)
What is interesting is that the Taiwan military not only does not give up on this old fighter, but also hopes to develop new weapons on its basis. Earlier, it was reported that Taiwan’s "Chinese Academy of Sciences" was trying to use the J85 engines left over from retired F5 fighters to transform them into new long-range cruise missile engines. This time, the F-5 fighter jet crashed at the same time, and the Taiwan military’s dream of "picking up tattered missiles" may be shattered. The safest way to deal with F-5 fighters may be to send them all to the steel mill for rebuilding.
