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Athens · Sunday, 8 November 2026

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Rewards for Justice: up to $20 million for information on Iran’s nuclear programme – whom Washington is looking for Remembrance Sunday: the King leads the UK in silence at the Cenotaph as 10,000 veterans march past Taiwan receives second batch of three F-16V Block 70 fighters at Chihhang Air Base Ukraine: 164 Russian drones and three Kh-59/69 missiles overnight – 600,000 consumers without power in the Dnipropetrovsk region Greece and NATO: why Athens left in 1974 and came back in 1980 Zelensky: North Korean KN-23 missiles hit a vital energy facility – how he explains the Russian escalation before Abu Dhabi Erdoğan to Trump: Turkey will continue efforts for US–Iran peace – In Karabakh for Azerbaijan’s Victory Day Israel: Herzog gives Eisenkot the first mandate to form a government – Netanyahu’s reaction Greece–Turkey confidence-building measures: Hellenic Tactical Air Command chief makes a three-day visit to Eskişehir Riyadh: damage to the Aramco tower from debris after a Houthi attack – the six operations and what the coalition says
A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter on the ground at an airshow, shown as a file photo of the type

Air Force

Taiwan receives second batch of three F-16V Block 70 fighters at Chihhang Air Base

Three more F-16V Block 70 jets landed in Taitung on Sunday, bringing the long-delayed fighter programme's deliveries to five aircraft.

Ioannis M. Ioannis M.Newsroom
2 min read

File photo of an F-16 (not one of the delivered aircraft): aeroman3 / Flickr, public domain

Taiwan has received a second batch of three F-16V Block 70 fighters from the United States, bringing the first new-build jets of the long-delayed programme to five. The aircraft, numbered 6729, 6731 and 6732, landed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung County, in the southeast of the island, at around 11 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to Taiwan’s Air Force.

In a statement published by the Ministry of National Defense, the Air Force Command Headquarters said the programme now has a stable production and delivery process in place, built with the help of the U.S. programme office and related agencies. It said it would go ahead with conversion training for the new aircraft as planned and build up initial operational capability step by step.

From South Carolina to Taitung

Taiwan’s state news agency CNA reported that the three jets left Lockheed Martin’s plant in South Carolina earlier this month and reached Hawaii on Nov. 4, local time, citing media reports. They followed the first two aircraft, which arrived on Oct. 2 and were covered in our report Taiwan receives first two F-16V Block 70 fighters after years of delay.

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A programme running years behind

Washington approved the sale of 66 F-16V fighters and related equipment to Taiwan in 2019, with a value of about US$8 billion. Deliveries were originally expected to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2026, but technical problems have pushed the timetable back, CNA noted. With five aircraft now on Taiwanese soil, the great majority of the order is still to come.

The Air Force statement does not give a date for the next delivery or for the point at which the type will reach initial operational capability. The ministry said only that the new jets would be inducted gradually as training progresses, and that the schedule would follow the programme’s plan.

F-16 F-16V Taiwan United States

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