来源:BLOOMBERG
标题 :U.S. Formalizes F-16 Jet Sale to Taiwan With China Tensions High
简单翻译一下
美国正式将 66台 F16 卖给台湾
这几台F16 为洛克希尔马丁所制造之最新型战机
此机型配有最新型的射控雷达，由Northrop Grumman Corp.所制造，型号为APG-83。
这份合约，并未载明出售给台湾，且打造战机数量为90架；彭博引述国防部官员
说法指，台湾和摩洛哥是买主，台湾购买66架，摩洛哥购买24架。
摩洛哥 24架 合约价值约为 49亿美金。这项90架战机的合约，会在2026年年底左右完成
这次的军购案包括56架单座战机与10架双座战机，总金额为80亿美元，第一架单座战机
预定在2024年交机，第一架双座战机则预定2023年第四季交机
Taiwan formally signed an agreement to buy 66 of the latest model F-16 jets
built by Lockheed Martin Corp., a move likely to further inflame tensions
between the U.S. and China.
Taiwan’s purchase of the F-16s marks the first sale of advanced fighter jets
to the island since President George H.W. Bush announced approval for 150
F-16s in 1992. A $62 billion figure announced by the Pentagon on Friday is
the upper limit of numerous contracts if all potential foreign customers
placed their maximum desired number over the decade.
The move is likely to be denounced by Beijing, even though the U.S. first
signaled its plans to approve the sale a year ago in an informal notification
to Congress and it could still be years before the jets are delivered.
The announcement said that work on the 90 jets potentially to be sold under
Friday’s announcement would be complete by late 2026.
Company officials have previously said they project a market for as many as
400 of the new F-16s.
U.S. Backs F-16 Sale to Taiwan, Drawing Warning From China
When the planned sale was announced in August last year, a spokeswoman for
China’s Foreign Ministry told reporters that “U.S. arms sales to Taiwan
severely violate the one-China principle.”
The spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said at the time that her government was
urging the U.S. to “refrain” from selling the “fighter jets to Taiwan and
stop arms sales to, and military contact with, Taiwan. Otherwise, the Chinese
side will surely make strong reactions, and the U.S. will have to bear all
the consequences.”
Since then, ties with the U.S. have only frayed further, with the two nations
in a series of disputes ranging from the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic to
5G technology and Beijing’s tightening grip over Hong Kong.
In addition to Taiwan, Morocco is buying 24 F-16s jets in the first tranche
of 90 aircraft that the Pentagon said was valued at $4.9 billion. The
Pentagon announcement didn’t name Taiwan or Morocco, but they have been
identified in a previous statement and were confirmed Friday by a person
familiar with the contract.
The new F-16s are being assembled at Lockheed’s new facility in Greenville,
South Carolina, which opened in April 2019. The contracting mechanism used by
the Pentagon “will facilitate faster contract awards and greater pricing
clarity for our foreign military partners,” Brian Brackens, an Air Force
spokesman, said in a statement to Bloomberg News before the contract
announcement.
“Taiwan and Morocco are expected to be the first two partner nations that
will utilize this contract,” Brackens said.
The Taiwan F-16s will be equipped with a top-line fire control radar made by
Northrop Grumman Corp. Called the APG-83, it would allow precision-guided
munitions to be fired at greater distances, said an official familiar with
the details.
Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Possenriede told analysts on a July
21 earnings call that the company was anticipating a “quite large” F-16
order “that should get announced sometime this quarter” in which “the
marquee customer is Taiwan.”
The additional 90 F-16s would add to Lockheed’s current 38-aircraft backlog.
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