Aircraft
Taiwan Confirms Indigenous Jet Trainer Development
The island republic will boost its local defense industry rather than buying M346s from Italy.
At the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition in August 2015, AIDC displayed this model of what was then designated the ‘XAT-5’ advanced jet trainer (Photo: TADTE)
At the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition in August 2015, AIDC displayed this model of what was then designated the ‘XAT-5’ advanced jet trainer (Photo: TADTE)

Taiwan has finally committed to building its own advanced jet trainer, based on the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), instead of buying an off-the-shelf design. The long-awaited move was confirmed last week when Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) commander Gen. Shen Yi-Ming signed a contract worth approximately $2.1 billion with the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCIST), the government’s own defense research and production agency. NCIST will in turn subcontract the airframe from the semi-privatized Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), which designed and built the IDF from 1980 to 1999 with U.S. assistance. NCIST will retain responsibility for the overall system, including ground-based training.