Taiwan says jamming pod software for its new F-16 Block 70 fighters is still in development

Taiwan's first new-build F-16 Block 70 fighters carry only part of the hardware for their AN/ALQ-254(V)1 Viper Shield electronic warfare pod, and the software that would let the jamming system work is still being developed, the air force's chief of staff told the Legislative Yuan on 12 October.

Lieutenant General Li Ching-jan was answering Kuomintang legislator Ma Wen-chun, who asked whether the two jets that landed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung on 2 October had arrived with the pod. Li said some of the hardware had been installed on the aircraft, that the software was under development, and that the work was proceeding according to plan.

Defence Minister Wellington Koo added that the electronic warfare system has to be integrated with the systems of the new airframe, and that the relevant specifications must be met within the control schedule that runs after the aircraft are handed over. He told the committee the new jets' electronic warfare suite is currently in integration testing.

More jets possible this month

Kuomintang legislator Lai Shyh-bao pressed Koo on the delivery timetable. Koo said 63 of the 66 Block 70 fighters Taiwan ordered are now on the production line and that he hopes further aircraft will fly to Taiwan this month once they clear acceptance. According to China Times, he said six jets are in flight testing, of which two will remain in the United States for training and two still have to complete acceptance, which the paper read as pointing to two more fighters reaching Taiwan by the end of October.

Koo did not commit to having all 66 aircraft delivered next year, saying that depends on continued coordination with the US programme office. The ministry would work closely with that office to push jets that have already passed flight tests through to delivery, he said.

Crash-avoidance kits for the older fleet

Ma also asked about the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, or Auto-GCAS, being retrofitted to the 140 older F-16s that were upgraded to the F-16V Block 20 standard. Li said the system has so far been installed on two aircraft. Koo said integration testing had been completed in the United States and that delivery and installation of the modification kits were following the planned milestones. Ma said the retrofit had been repeatedly delayed and urged the ministry to press Washington on it.

The Block 70 jets are being bought under the Phoenix Soaring programme, a multi-year budget of about NT$247.2 billion covering 2020 to 2026 for 66 new fighters. The first two, tail numbers 6727 and 6728, reached Chihhang on 2 October after years of production delays. The separate Phoenix Rising programme, run by Lockheed Martin and Taiwan's AIDC, finished converting 140 F-16A/B fighters to F-16V Block 20 configuration in December 2023.

Why the pod matters

An electronic warfare pod acts as an invisible shield for a fighter, collecting the signals of hostile radars and radios and then jamming them according to their characteristics, which can disrupt an opponent's search and communications or feed it false information, China Times noted.

For the air force, that makes the timing of the software as important as the arrival of airframes. Until Viper Shield is fully integrated, the first Block 70s can be used for conversion training at Chihhang but would enter a contested air environment over the Taiwan Strait without the self-protection jamming the new fighters were bought to carry. The session gave no date for when the software work would be finished.

The questions came during a committee session called to hear Koo's report on the departure and replacement of military pilots and on measures to retain them, the same hearing at which the ministry set out plans to keep senior pilots flying longer.