TSAMTO, November 30. On November 29, the Taiwan Air Force Command at Taitung Air Base accepted the first new T-5 "Brave Eagle" advanced flight training vehicle (Brave Eagle /Yung Yin).
The T-5 TCB was produced at the facilities of the Taiwan Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC).
According to the CNA news agency, the aircraft with serial number 11003 took off from the Taichung Airbase, where the AIDC enterprise is located at 10:10 local time and landed at the Taitung Airbase in the southeastern part of the island at 10:34.
The event on the acceptance of the first TCB T-5 was closed to the public and representatives of the media. According to a report from the Ministry of National Defense sent to the Legislative Yuan in September, AIDC plans to deliver two T-5 aircraft to the Air Force by the end of the year.
The second TCB T-5 with serial number 11004 also rolled off the assembly line and performed the first test flights in Taichung on November 27.
As reported by TSAMTO, in February 2017, the Taiwan Air Force Command concluded a contract with the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) for the development of a project and the supply of a national advanced training vehicle. At the same time, NCSIST signed a memorandum of cooperation within the framework of the project development and production of 66 new TCB/UBS with the national corporation AIDC. The Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan has allocated 68.6 billion for the implementation of the program. tyv. ($2.21 billion). The development is being implemented on the basis of the XT-5 aircraft project created by AIDC on the platform of the IDF/F-CK-1 national fighter.
The design of the T-5 was completed in March 2018, after which work began on the assembly of the TCB. The first prototype was ready in September 2019. The prototype made its first flight in June 2020, and flight tests of the second aircraft began at the end of December 2020.
It is assumed that all 66 serial TCB T-5 will be delivered to the customer by 2026 and will replace the outdated TCB AT-3. The version of the AT-5 light combat aircraft is designed to replace the F-5E/F Tiger-2, which have been in operation for more than 30 years.
The new TCB will allow the Taiwan Air Force to move from three-stage pilot training on three types of aircraft to a three-stage system on two types of aircraft.
