Lockheed Martin will try to avoid delays in the delivery of 66 upgraded F-16V Block 70/72 fighter jets to Taiwan under an $8 billion contract

A month ago it became known that Lockheed Martin would not be able to deliver F-16V Block 70/72 fighters on time for

Taiwan Air Force. The company said this week it was working to avoid delays.

What is known

Possible delays were reported by Chiu in early MayKuo-cheng, Minister of Defense of Taiwan. He cited problems in the Lockheed Martin supply chain as the reason. To minimize damage, the Department of Defense asked for priority deliveries of components for the F-16, which are already in service with the island nation.

Chiu Kuo-cheng later reported that the delays were relatedwith F-16V flight control software. A spokesman for Lockheed Martin said this week that the company is working closely with the US government to ensure that aircraft deliveries are on time.

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In 2023, Lockheed Martin released threeaircraft F-16V Block 70/72. They were used to design and develop flight control software. One of the fighters will be handed over to the Royal Bahrain Air Force.

The US State Department approved the sale of 66 upgraded F-16Vs worth $8 billion in 2019. Taiwan has also already begun upgrading 141 F-16A/B fighters to the F-16V level.