What you need to know: The sale of the F-15EX Eagle II to Taiwan’s air force would upgrade its capabilities against China’s advanced military while increasing interoperability with the US and regional allies such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

-Although the F-15EX is not a stealth fighter, pairing it with potential F-35 sales would strengthen Taiwan’s defensive posture against fifth-generation J-20 fighters and the potential sixth-generation H-20 bomber.

-While opponents cite concerns about Beijing’s backlash and the One China policy, proponents argue that supporting Taiwan, a democratic ally and strengthening the regional security coalition outweigh these risks.

Should Taiwan get the F-15EX Eagle II?

Controversial, stirring question: Should the United States sell the F-15EX Eagle II, Boeing 4.5 generation upgrade updated of the old two-seat McDonnell F-15E Strike the EagleAir Force of the Republic of China (ROCAF), ie Taiwanese Air Force?

My unapologetic, equally controversial, gut-wrenching answer: Hell yeah, you should!

Short version of the reason: to upgrade their fleet of fighter jets and better enable them to deal with loose aggression People’s Republic of China (PRC)i.e. mainland China; to increase interoperability with America’s other military allies from Indo-Pacific region; and pinch the nose not only of Beijing but also of all their apologists “The China Lobby” and their pacifiers within our borders. Now to elaborate…

Updating Taiwan’s current fighter jet fleet

Taiwan’s current fighter fleet is, for the most part, technologically, if not numerically, quite well equipped to handle fourth-generation People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and older fighter aircraft such as J-15, J-11and J-7/F-7an imitator of the old soviet design MiG-21 “Fishbed”as well as older bombers such as H-6.

But against PRC fifth-generation stealth fighters like the Chengdu J-20 Weilong, nato reporting name “Fagin” and future Shenyang J-35 (AKA JC-31 Gyrfalcon), not to mention the upcoming sixth generation of Red China H-20 bomber, not so much.

Mind you, the Eagle II as a 4.5 generation fighter as opposed to a true stealth fighter would still not put the ROCAF on par with the PLAAF stealth warbirds… but if the sale of the Eagle II was combined with a the sale of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIthen those two aircraft would make a fantastic mutually reinforcing tandem and force multiplier, just like Example of the Israeli Air Force.

right World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA)ROCAF has the following warbirds in the following numbers and ages:

– Lockheed Martin F-16A/V Fighting Falcon; the amount of 115 airframes, with sixty-six more from the 2015 era Variants AKA “Viper” custom made.

– Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) F-CK-1C Ching-kuo AKA Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), quantity 103 aircraft; since 1989, this is Taiwan’s only fighter jet.

–Dassault Mirage 2000 -5EI; quantity forty-four aircraft; since 1978, which makes the “2000” label a bit of a misnomer.

–Northrop F/RF-5E Tiger IIAKA The Freedom Fighter; quantity twenty-five aircraft; of 1972 vintage and therefore the oldest (and least obsolete) of the war in the ROCAF fighter arsenal.

NOTE: I am specifically focusing on Taiwan Air Force here because although Naval Aviation of the Republic of China The command (ROCNAC) has fixed-wing aircraft, none of which are combat aircraft, the ROCN uses Lockheed P-3 Orion for the maritime patrol, and the EP-3 Aries II signal recognition variant.

Interoperability with the US and other regional allies

Besides US Air Force, MARINEand Marine Corpsthe following militaries in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) region already use a variant of the Eagle aircraft:

–Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF); F-15SGan upgraded and modified F-15E with a different name; quantity forty aircraft

–Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF); F-15J “Eagle of Peace;” quantity 155 aircraft

–Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF), meaning the South Korean Air Force; F-15K “Slam Eagle” the Eagle Strike variant; quantity fifty-nine copies

Given the likelihood that a war with China would, for all practical purposes, involve World War III, drawing a multinational anti-PRC coalition into the conflict, it would make sense to grant ROCAF at least some degree of interoperability with the US, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

PRC nose pinching

China’s lobbyists and appeasers will complain and drink like sheep that they are the ones supplying the F-15EX and F-35 to Taipei. angry Beijingworsen the already strained and acrimonious Sino-American relations and violate America’s old-state spirit “One China” policy..

To which I reply, “And what exactly is the bloody problem with that?”

Despite the intentionally nebulous strategic ambiguity of the One China policy, the events of the current and previous decades should be abundantly clear to any American citizen with at least half a brain that

(1) Taipei is our friend and ally

(2) Beijing is an unofficial but universally understood American rival.

We are talking about a Chinese Communist tyranny which, in addition to all its acts of aggression against our regional allies, not only Taiwan but India, Japanand Philippines.

That doesn’t even take into account the bloodthirsty totalitarianism that Xi Jinping and his servants inflict them on his citizens, especially THE the Uyghurs, Falun Gongand Chinese Christians.

So if selling the Eagle II and Lightning II to Taiwan would upset China, then Glory Hallelujah, let the congregation say, “Amen!”

About the author:

Christian D. Orr is senior defense editor forNational Security Journal(NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Officer, federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an MA in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from the American Military University (AMU). It was also published inThe daily torch,Journal of Information and Cyber ​​SecurityandSimple flight. Last but not least, he is a companion of the OrderNaval Order of the United States (NOUS).

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