Air Force locks 8 November Chihhang window for second F-16 Block 70 batch

Taiwans Air Force Command told military reporters on 7 November 2026 that the second batch of new F-16 Block 70 fighters is due to land at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on 8 November, and it invited cameras onto the base for the arrival window. Liberty Times, China Times and Sanlih all carried that media notice the same day.

Liberty Times and Taipei Times reported that, absent weather or other force majeure, the jets are expected around noon, matching the timing of the first two Block 70 aircraft that landed at Chihhang at about midday on 2 October after a Guam-to-Taiwan ferry leg.

Both outlets said the three aircraft in this batch are single-seat jets carrying Republic of China Air Force serial numbers 6729, 6731 and 6732. Taipei Times added that they left Lockheed Martins Greenville, South Carolina, line for Fort Worth, Texas, then flew with tanker support to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for inspection before continuing toward Taiwan.

China Times said the Air Force instructed reporters to report to the Chihhang visitors room on the morning of 8 November so they could film the landing from inside the base, which the paper treated as confirmation that the second batch is scheduled to arrive that day.

Sanlih noted that Defence Minister Wellington Koo had said on 6 November that the second batch would arrive soon, and that the Air Force notice then fixed the window as 8 November around noon if nothing intervenes. The paper also recalled that the first two jets reached Chihhang from Hawaii via Guam on 2 October.

Liberty Times and Taipei Times both placed the second batch inside the Peace Phoenix Soaring buy of 66 new Block 70 fighters, a programme originally meant to finish in 2026 but slowed by production-line moves, pandemic effects and supply-chain breaks. The first batch was serials 6727 and 6728.

Taipei Times said the new jets carry conformal fuel tanks on the upper fuselage and can add three under-wing tanks on ferry legs, and that enthusiasts estimate the mainland-to-Taiwan ferry may need roughly 12 to 15 aerial refuellings.

None of the 7 November reports said the three jets had already touched down at Chihhang. The hard news is the Air Force locking an 8 November media arrival window after Koos soon statement, not a completed landing outcome.

That schedule lock matters for delivery cadence because the October pair and this three-jet batch are the first newly built main fighters Taiwan has taken under the delayed 66-jet order. A public noon window at Chihhang is the clearest official signal yet that the Hawaii-Guam ferry path is again in motion for a second tranche.

China Times and Sanlih both stressed that the Air Force notice remains subject to weather and other force majeure, so the 8 November noon slot is a planned media landing window rather than a completed delivery until the jets are on the Chihhang runway.

Liberty Times said the three jets had already staged through Hawaii after leaving the United States on 4 November local time with tanker escort, putting them on the same Pacific ferry path used by the October pair.

Taipei Times recalled that the first batch left Hawaii on 1 October, stopped in Guam, and reached Chihhang after about four hours the next morning, a pattern the Air Force media plan for 8 November appears to follow.