Taiwan’s F-16V Fighter Deliveries Face New Delays
Taiwan’s long-delayed $8 billion military procurement faces fresh scrutiny as the first two newly built F-16V Block 70 fighter jets fail to complete their trans-Pacific journey from the United States, according to regional reporting. The aircraft, purchased under an agreement with Lockheed Martin, underscore persistent delivery bottlenecks impacting international defense partners.
According to sources cited by Focus Taiwan, the two fighter jets bearing serial numbers 6727 and 6728 departed from the continental United States on August 17. While the aircraft successfully reached Hawaii, Taiwan News reported that they had yet to arrive at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung by September 3, leaving military observers waiting without an exact arrival date.
The delayed flight highlights ongoing operational hurdles for the “Peace Phoenix Soaring” project. Approved in 2019, Taiwan’s NT$247.2 billion procurement involves 66 new F-16 Block 70 fighters.
Production Bottlenecks at Lockheed Martin
Production schedules for the world’s largest defense company slipped due to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and the complex relocation of F-16 manufacturing to a facility in Greenville, South Carolina. To mitigate the backlog, Lockheed Martin implemented two production shifts running up to 20 hours a day.
By October 2025, Taiwan’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo acknowledged that meeting the original target to deliver all 66 aircraft by the end of 2026 would prove difficult, according to reporting.
Unlike older Block 20 models upgraded under the separate “Peace Phoenix Rising” initiative—which reached completion in December 2023 with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp.—the new Block 70 variants feature advanced AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array radars and conformal fuel tanks designed to extend flight ranges.
Parallel Delays Impact International Defense Partners
Taiwan remains one of several international buyers experiencing friction over advanced fighter deliveries. In North Africa, the Royal Moroccan Air Force awaits 25 new F-16 Block 72 fighters valued at approximately $4.2 billion, with deliveries slated to begin in 2027, according to Business Insider Africa and Médias24.
Médias24 reported in July that Morocco’s first production aircraft had cleared the assembly line for ground testing. Although Rabat previously voiced frustrations over timing and weighed potential compensation claims against Lockheed Martin, current timetables remain aligned with the 2027 rollout, alongside an ongoing program to modernize 23 legacy Moroccan F-16s.