IDF and Tigershark

I think Taiwan made a silly decision when it reduced
the IDF force to 130 and instead procured 150
underpowered Block 20 F-16A/Bs and 60 very
expensive (virtually double the cost of the IDF)
Mirage 2005s.

For the amount of money spent of these two foreign
procurements, Taiwan would have been able to field
about 300 more modern IDFs, at the same time improving
their air superiority and interception capabilities with
their own active Sky Sword II AAM. Most significantly,
the IDFs have twin engine survivability, which was the
main deciding factor in Malaysia’s procurement of
the Mig-29 during the early 90s.

I’ve never thought highly of the F-16 Block 20s, which
are basically the same as the ADF models. Former
F-106 Delta Dart drivers lamented the ADF’s lack of
range.

It was also unfortunate that Taiwan was denied purchase
of 100 of the highly agile F-20 Tigersharks. An indicator
of the Tigershark’s agility was that the US Navy Top Gun
school actually preferred this fighter over the F-16N
as a replacement “Aggressor” aircraft, and were forced
to buy the Falcon on the demise of the F-20 program.
Another indicator was both the fatal demonstrator
crashes were due to G-LOC, both test pilots apparently
underestimating the Tigershark’s extreme agility. It is
amazing that nobody other than Taiwan and the Top Gun
pilots had the presence of mind to procure this small
highly maneuvrable, capable and cost-effective fighter.