Article Summary – Taiwan is surrounded by U.S. F-35 operators—from Japan and South Korea to Australia—and now even Saudi Arabia is joining the club.
-Yet Taipei remains shut out of the Lightning II, despite facing daily pressure from China’s growing fleet of J-20s, J-35s, and long-range bombers.
An F-35 Lightning II pilot from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, waits to taxi onto the runway June 20, 2019, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. This double exposure photo was achieved in camera by combining two perspectives, a photo of the F-35 and photo of the sky, to create a singular image. (U.S. Air Force photo illustration by Airman 1st Class Andrew Kobialka)
F-35s would do three things at once: modernize the Republic of China Air Force, lock Taiwan into a tighter combat network with U.S. and regional allies, and send a clear political signal that Washington won’t let Beijing veto Taiwan’s survival.
-If Israel and Riyadh qualify, why not Taipei?
If Saudi Arabia Gets the F-35, Why Is Taiwan Still Waiting?
The F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation stealth fighter produced by Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works division is a hugely popular foreign military sales product. As of September 2024, 18 allies had purchased the warbird.
We can now add Saudi Arabia to the F-35 customer list, a fact that doesn’t sit too well with Israel (currently the only Middle Eastern user of the Lightning II), even though the Saudi F-35s reportedly won’t have as many advanced features as the Israelis’ F-35I Adir (Mighty One).
F-35I Adir. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
However, one important U.S. ally is conspicuous by its absence from the list of F-35 operators: Taiwan. If the U.S. can sell the Lightning II to the Israelis and the Saudis, shouldn’t selling them to Taiwan be a no-brainer?
The Baseline Case for F-35s to Taiwan
Selling the Lightning II to the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) would help that democratic island-nation modernize its fighter jet fleet and stand up to the People’s Republic of China’s naked aggression; increase interoperability with America’s other military allies in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and tweak Beijing’s nose.
Previous White House Administrations seemed to be deathly afraid of offending Beijing in the slightest, but President Donald Trump, love him or hate him, has no such qualms.
And as for Washington’s longstanding “One China” policy,” the events of the current and previous decade should make it abundantly clear that Taipei is America’s friend and ally, while Beijing is our adversary. China routinely commits acts of aggression against our regional allies (not just Taiwan, but the Philippines, India, and Japan) and poisons the U.S. populace with fentanyl and children’s toys laced with lead-based paints.
So if the sale of the F-35 to Taiwan would offend the Chinese Communist Party, so be it.
USINDOPACOM Interoperability
Besides the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, the current users of the F-35 within IndoPaCom are the Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and the Republic of Korea Air Force.
Given the likelihood that a war with China would almost certainly draw in participants throughout the region, it would only make sense to make sure the ROCAF is interoperable with those allies.
Modernizing the ROCAF
Taiwan’s current fighter jet fleet is, for the most part, fairly well-equipped technologically, if not numerically, to handle China’s fourth-generation and older fighter jets—warbirds such as the J-15, J-11, and J-7, as well as older bombers like the H-6.
China J-20 Fighter Yellow. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
But when it comes to the prospect of tangling with the People Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fifth-generation stealth fighter jets such as the Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon and the up-and-coming Shenyang J-35, not to mention intercepting the PLAAF’s prospective sixth-generation H-20 bomber, the ROCAF is sorely lacking. A stealth fighter such as the F-35 would go a long way to fix this shortcoming.
According to the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft, the ROCAF has 490 aircraft in its inventory. The Republic of China Naval Aviation Command also has fixed-wing aircraft, but none of them are fighter planes: Taiwan’s Navy uses the Lockheed P-3 Orion for maritime patrol and the EP-3 Aries II variant for signals reconnaissance.
The ROCAF flies the following fighters:
-115 Lockheed Martin F-16A/V Fighting Falcons, with 66 more of the 2015-vintage V variants on order.
-103 Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation F-CK-1C Ching-kuo fighters, AKA the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF); this is Taiwan’s only homegrown fighter plane.
-44 Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters.
-25 Northrop F/RF-5E Tiger II fighters. Built in 1972, these are the oldest, most obsolescent warbirds in the ROCAF fighter arsenal.
Adding the F-35 to that fighter fleet would be a huge boost to the ROCAF in numbers, technological capability, and morale.
The stealth fighter would serve as a significant reassurance to the Taiwanese people that America is a trustworthy ally that is serious about keeping them safe from Beijing’s belligerence.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
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