Taiwan Touts New Air Force Advanced Training Jet’s Abilities

Taiwan Touts New Air Force Advanced Training Jet’s Abilities
Taiwan's new Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft at an air force base, in Taitung, Taiwan, on July 6, 2022. Ann Wang/Reuters
|Updated:

TAITUNG, Taiwan—Taiwan’s air force showed off its new locally designed and made jet trainer on Wednesday, touting the more advanced, combat-capable abilities of the aircraft that will replace aging and accident-prone existing equipment.

Taiwan’s armed forces are mostly equipped by the United States, but President Tsai Ing-wen has made development of an advanced home-grown defense industry a priority, especially as China, which claims the island as its own, steps up military modernization efforts and drills near Taiwan.