Koo says more F-16Vs due this year, denies EW ballast-weight claim

Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters at the Legislative Yuan on 2 October that Taiwan will receive more than two new-build F-16V Block 70 fighters before year-end and denied reports that electronic-warfare equipment was missing and replaced with ballast weights on the first arrivals.

United Daily News reported that Koo said manufacturers are conducting software and hardware electronic-warfare testing and integration on the new-purchase airframes, that the work is proceeding against scheduled control nodes, and that results should emerge soon.

Koo also said eastern Taiwan remains an important stronghold for preserving combat power under the military's strategic-depth guidance, while declining to detail further basing beyond the Chihhang introduction path already described by Air Force Command.

Focus Taiwan and Taipei Times confirmed the same-day landing of serials 6727 and 6728 at Chihhang Air Base around noon after the Hawaii-Guam ferry. Air Force Command said the jets will join the 7th Tactical Fighter Wing in phases as aircrew and maintainers rotate through US conversion training.

The ballast-weight rumour had circulated as an explanation for delayed electronic-warfare readiness on Peace Phoenix Soaring airframes. Koo's on-record denial reframes the issue as active integration testing rather than temporary dummy loads, which matters for when self-protection and electronic-attack suites become usable in training.

Air Force Command separately said some of the remaining 63 jets have reached delivery-ready status and that ferry timing will continue to be coordinated with the US program office, aligning with Koo's insistence that the first pair is not the year's only tranche.

For readiness tracking, the Legislative Yuan exchange is a discrete ministerial update on electronic-warfare integration and delivery tempo. It answers two operational questions lawmakers and spotters had been asking: whether EW is flying with the new jets, and whether production remains stuck at two airframes for calendar 2026.

Integration risk remains even after the denial. Software-hardware bring-up on a new-build Block 70 still has to clear test points before the aircraft can employ the full electronic suite in advanced training or crisis tasking, and Koo did not publish a public completion date beyond saying results would come soon.

Eastern basing comments also reinforce why Chihhang matters beyond the landing ceremony. Preserving fighters on the less missile-saturated east coast is central to Taiwan's combat-power survival concept, and Koo tied that geography to the Block 70 introduction without naming additional bases.

President Lai Ching-te welcomed the first arrivals as an air-defence milestone and as investment meant to raise the cost of invasion and reduce miscalculation risk, Focus Taiwan reported, while a US State Department spokesperson told CNA that Washington's Taiwan policy is unchanged under long-standing guidance including the Taiwan Relations Act.

Taken together, Koo's 2 October remarks give the clearest official status yet on electronic-warfare testing and near-term delivery volume after the Chihhang landings, while leaving exact follow-on ferry dates subject to continued US-Taiwan program coordination and test milestones.

This report was produced through TaiwanDefence’s automated publishing system and includes links to its supporting sources.