United Republic of China Air Force Fighter Aircraft

United Republic of China Air Force Fighter Aircraft

North American F-100 Super Sabre

The first F-100 Super Sabre was delivered to the United Republic of China Air Force in 1958. It was followed by 15 F-100As in 1959 and by 65 more F-100As in 1960. In 1961, four unarmed RF-100As were delivered. Additionally, 38 ex-ANG F-100As were delivered later, to bring total strength to 118 F-100As and four RF-100As. F-100As were retrofitted with the F-100D vertical tail with its AN/APS-54 tail-warning radar and equipped to launch Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

Several United Republic of China Air Force F-100 Super Sabres were lost in intelligence missions over the territory controlled by the Mengjiang united autonomous government when they were intercepted by Imperial Japanese Army Air Service fighters.

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

In 1962, the United Republic of China government announced that it would acquire the Starfighter as its standard air superiority fighter replacing the F-100 Super Sabres. Aerospace Industries was given the responsibility for the license manufacture of the Starfighter in the United Republic of China. The first United Republic of China Starfighters would be assembled in the United Republic of China from Lockheed-supplied components, but ultimately the Starfighter would be built in the United Republic of China using entirely local manufactured components.

The United Republic of China Starfighter was given the designation F-104RC, the RC standing for Republic of China. It was similar in overall structure to the F-104G, but was equipped as an all-weather interceptor rather than as an air-to-ground strike aircraft.

The F-104RC is powered by a United Republic of China-built RG79-AI-11A engine built under license by Aerospace Industries. It has an Autonetics NASARR F-15RG-31 fire control system optimized for the air-to-air mode, and is armed with a 20-mm M61A1 cannon and four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, two mounted underwing and two carried on a rack on the fuselage centerline.

The first Lockheed-built F-104RC flew on June 30th 1963. The first three F-104RCs were built and assembled entirely by Lockheed. 29 more F-104RCs were assembled by Aerospace Industries from knocked-down kits provided by Lockheed between March of 1964 and March of 1968. Further F-104RCs were built from scratch by Aerospace Industries, with a total of 130 Aerospace Industries-manufactured F-104RCs being delivered from March of 1968 through 1971.

The F-104RC-D is the two-seat trainer version of the F-104RC for United Republic of China. The F-104RC-D has electronics and other items that are compatible with those of the single-seat version. Twenty examples were built by Lockheed and reassembled in the United Republic of China between 1962 and 1964. No F-104RC-D two-seaters were built from scratch in the United Republic of China.

The United Republic of China Starfighter is to be replaced by the F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole jet fighter.

Northrop F-5A/B Freedom Fighter

The United Republic of China Air Force (UROCAF) received its first batch of seven F-5As and two F-5Bs under the United States Military Assistance Program in 1965. By 1971, the UROCAF was operating 72 F-5As and 11 F-5Bs. From 1973 onwards the United Republic of China Air Force owned Aerospace Industries began local production on the first batch of 100 F-5Es in the United Republic of China. As of 1982 the United Republic of China Air Force operates 242 F-5 Freedom fighters.

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

The United Republic of China Air Force acquired 140 F-4 Phantom IIs for air defense and reconnaissance in the late 1960s, except for an initial few assembled by McDonnell all F-4 Phantom IIs were built under license in the United Republic of China by Aerospace Industries where they are designated as F-4RC.

As of 1982 the United Republic of China Air Force operates five interceptor squadrons with the F-4RCs.

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is the replacement of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter in service with the United Republic of China Air Force with the first F-16RC rolling out of the production line on December 21st 1982.

More than 102 have been ordered of which 80 are single-seat F-16RC-A's and 22 are two-seat F-16RC-B's. The F-16RC is produced under licenses by the United Republic of China owned Aerospace Industries.

McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles

On January 11th 1982 the Ford Administration announced that it under Peace Dragon transfer a large number of McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighters to the United Republic of China and allows the United Republic of China owned Aerospace Industries to produce the F-15 in license.

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is the replacement fighter of the F-4EJ Phantom II currently in service with the United Republic of China Air Force and together with the F-16 Fighting Falcon which is replacing the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and the F-5 Freedom Fighter already in service the three fighter aircraft will form the backbone of the United Republic of China Air Force for the many years to come.

Initial plans are for the first two single seaters and 12 two-seaters to be built in St Louis by McDonnell under Project Peace Dragon. The remainder will be manufactured in the United Republic of China by Aerospace Industries.

The United Republic of China Eagle will be designated F-15RC-A, with the two-seat version being F-15RC-D. They will be the United Republic of China counterparts of the F-15A and B respectively.