TSAMTO, December 30. The Taiwan Air Force has adopted the second new advanced flight training T-5 "Brave Eagle" (Brave Eagle /Yung Yin) manufactured by the Taiwanese Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC).
According to the CNA news agency, the aircraft with serial number 1102 took off from the Taichung Airbase, where the AIDC enterprise is located, on December 22 at 9:20 local time, together with the AJT prototype. In the air, they were joined by the previously delivered first serial UTS S.N. 1101. At about 10 a.m., the planes landed at Taitung Air Base in the southeastern part of the island.
As stated, the delivery of the second TCB was carried out in accordance with the terms of the contract, which provide for the acceptance of two aircraft at the end of 2021. The first TCB (S.N.1101) was transferred to the Taiwan Air Force on November 29. AIDC plans to deliver a total of 66 T-5 aircraft to the country's Air Force by June 2026.
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 (Aerospace Industrial Development Corp). 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is assumed that all 66 serial TCB T-5 will be delivered to the customer in the period up to 2026 and will replace the outdated TCB AT-3.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.
