The F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo is one of the essential elements of the Republic of China's defence.
The current crisis between this country, commonly known as Taiwan, and the People's Republic
of China is making its job more challenging than ever.
This multi-role fighter has to deter the mighty and vigorous dragons of the People's Liberation
Army Air Force, PLAAF for short.
As the Weapon Detective, we are now investigating the F-CK-1, the indigenous defender of Taiwan's
sky.
The F-CK-1 Ching-Kuo, a.k.a.
the Indigenous Defense Fighter, or IDF for short, is an intriguing combat jet with its
story and the challenges it has to face.
At first glance, this aircraft symbolizes the rise of the Taiwanese aerospace industry.
But also, the F-CK-1 represents the top point of this venture, and later we witness a decline.
To better understand this contradiction, let's look at its history and features first.
After Mao Zedong's forces gained total control over Mainland China, the U.S. continued to
recognize Taiwan as the legitimate government of China.
This situation began to change with Nixon's visit to Beijing in1972.
Seven years later, the U.S.A. recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate
government of China and terminated the Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan.
The Taiwanese Air Force, officially the Republic of China Air Force, shortly ROCAF, had been
requesting a new fighter with the capability of AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range air-to-air missiles
for a while to replace its F-104s and F-5s.
The Chinese pressure and the change in U.S. policy blocked a possible F-16 acquisition
plan.
So, Taiwan initiated the XF-6 indigenous fighter project in the late 1970s.
In 1980, Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-Kuo tasked the local Aerospace Industrial Development
Corporation company, a.k.a AIDC, to continue the programme.
The Taiwanese aerospace industry, which had worked on the AT-3 jet trainer since 1975
and produced the F-5E under-licence, had already reached a certain level.
While the study phase for a new combat aircraft continued, Ronald Reagan became the president,
and the export restrictions were slowly eased.
Thus, the U.S.A. offered the F-20 Tigershark to Taiwan.
Also, a possible acquisition of the Israeli Kfir was on the agenda.
After a careful evaluation, Taiwan found both the F-20 and the Kfir insufficient to meet
the ROCAF's requirements.
Also, the waving U.S. policy was not trustable.
So, Taipei decided to move on with its indigenous fighter programme.
But designing a fourth-generation fighter was not a simple job.
Thankfully, in 1982, Reagan declared the "Six Assurances" to Taiwan, which allowed a limited
U.S. technology transfer to this country.
Thus, the AIDC officially began the indigenous fighter development programme in the same
year.
The entire collective project, called "An Hsiang", meaning "Safe Flight", had four sub-projects
with individual names.
The "Ying Yang", which means "Soaring Eagle" in English, was the airframe design project
executed in cooperation with General Dynamics.
The "Tien Lei", meaning "Sky Thunder", was about the development of avionics systems.
Many U.S. companies, such as Smiths Industries, Lear Astronics, Litton and Martin-Baker, participated
in this sub-project.
Taiwan carried out its indigenous fighter programme in parallel with an indigenous air-to-air
missile development sub-project called "Tien Chien", meaning "Sky Sword".
The most tricky sub-project was "Yun Han", meaning "Milky Way" or "Cloud Man".
It was about the development of the jet engine.
The U.S.A. did not accept selling the General Electric F404 of the F/A-18 and the Pratt
& Whitney F100 of the F-16.
Also, it refused to share the technology.
So, the U.S. Garrett AiResearch and the Taiwanese AIDC formed a joint venture called International
Turbine Engine Corporation, ITEC for short, to develop a turbofan engine based on the
civilian TFE731.
The fruit of this partnership was the F-125 GA-100, a.k.a.
TFE1042-70.
ITEC also worked on the more powerful TFE1088-12 variant, later re-designated as TFE1042-70A
for political reasons.
The preliminary studies showed that this engine would give the aircraft supercruise capability.
But, due to budget restrictions, the works on the TFE1088-12 were terminated.
In the mid-1980s, the PLAAF was interested in acquiring the Mirage 2000.
So, the Taiwanese engineers made some changes to the design by considering the F-CK-1's
nemesis would be this delta-wing French fighter.
Due to the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, this sale has never happened.
In 1985, AIDC decided to skip the prototype stage and directly continue with the full-scale
development phase to reduce time and save money.
The F-CK-1 made its maiden flight on May 28, 1989.
The production of ten pre-production aircraft began in 1990.
AIDC delivered the first four in 1992 and the last six in 1993.
The company delivered the first production variant of the F-CK-1 to the ROCAF in 1994.
The aircraft reached squadron-level operational readiness in the same year.
In 1995, the production of the F-CK-1 was halted due to some handicaps in the fuel management
system.
At that time, the company had already completed 51 aircraft.
After the necessary corrections were made, production resumed in 1996.
AIDC produced 137 F-CK-1s, including the pre-production variants, until 1999.
Initially, the ROCAF had planned to have 256 aircraft.
But, when the USA approved the sale of 150 F-16s and France 60 Mirage 2000-5s, Taiwan
reduced the number of the F-CK-1s.
So, we may imagine the PLAAF Mirage 2000s could have harmed the ROCAF F-CK-1 in dogfights
in an alternative universe.
Taiwan's own Mirage 2000s damaged the F-CK-1 programme in this universe.
Due to the enhanced capability of the PLAAF, the ROCAF demanded some improvements over
the aircraft in the early 2000s.
The aircraft initially had the single-seat A and twin-seat B variants.
After the modernization, the F-CK-1's single-seat version is renamed as C and the twin-seat
model as D. These variants can carry four Tien Chien II
beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, whereas the As and Bs had only two.
The Tien Chien IIC version, currently fitted on the aircraft, has 100 kilometres range.
The former missiles had only 60 kilometres range.
Also, the F-CK-1 can now launch anti-radar missiles.
Thanks to updates, the radar of the C and D has gained terrain-following capability.
The old displays have been replaced with three full-colour multifunction ones.
The fuselage structure and landing gears have been strengthened due to installing two 771-litre
rear conformal fuel tanks.
The new F-CK-1 variants have updated internal navigation systems and advanced IFF equipment.
The aircraft's landing distance has been reduced by 10 per cent.
The range has been increased by 20 per cent.
Currently, all F-CK-1s have been modernized to these standards.
We may also mention the T-5 Yǒngyīng supersonic advanced jet trainer as a variant of the F-CK-1.
The ROCAF is planning to acquire 66 T-5s to replace the AT-3s.
The aircraft has an aluminium-alloy fuselage and composite control surfaces, flaps and
airbrakes.
The design of the air intakes reduces the radar cross-section.
The ejection seat is tilted 30 degrees, which can help the pilot to withstand higher G-forces.
The F-125 GA-100 turbofan engine is modular.
This design reduces maintenance costs and burdens and increases flexibility for future
improvements.
The flight cost per hour of the F-CK-1 is more than 1.5 times the F-16.
But, it is nearly one of three that of the Mirage 2000.
The F-CK-1 is the only fighter of the ROCAF that can perform a scramble takeoff and interception
within 5 minutes.
The Tien Chien II missiles, which give the aircraft beyond visual range engagement capacity,
are its essential weapon system in this mission.
They are mounted under the centerline of the fuselage as semi-buried.
The X-band GD-53 Golden Dragon multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar can detect an air target
with a 5-square meter radar cross-section at a range of 148 kilometres.
It can simultaneously track 10 targets and engage two of them.
The radar has look-down/shoot-down capability.
Thanks to the Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles, the aircraft can attack a surface target at
160 kilometres range.
Its newer variant has a range of 250 kilometres.
The F-CK-1 can carry three of these missiles at once.
The latest C and D variants can launch the GPS/INS/TERCOM-guided Wan Chien air-to-ground
cruise missile with a range of 200 to 240 kilometres.
It can be effective in both land and naval targets.
Taiwan is currently working on a new variant of this subsonic missile with a range of 400
kilometres.
The F-CK-1 has a length of 14.21 metres, a wingspan of 9 metres, and a height of 4.42
metres.
Its wing area is 24.2 square metres.
The aircraft's empty weight is about 6,500 kilograms, while its maximum takeoff weight
is about 9,000 kilograms.
Two 42.1 kiloNewton Honeywell/ITEC F125-GA-100 turbofan engines provide a top speed of Mach
1.8.
Its service ceiling is 16,800 metres, in other words, 55,100 feet.
The aircraft's range is 5,500 kilometres.
The F-CK-1 has one 20mm six-barreled M61A1 Gatling cannon.
It can also carry the Tien Chien I, Tien Chien II, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air, AGM-65 Maverick,
Wan Chien air-to-surface, Hsiung Feng II anti-ship and Tien Chien IIA anti-radar missiles and
conventional bombs.
Since day one, the F-CK-1s have successfully intercepted many Chinese aircraft such as
H-6s, Su-30s, and J-11.
But the current situation is not in their favour.
When the Taiwanese engineers began to design the F-CK-1, they considered the capabilities
of the J-7s and J-8s first and added to a possible Mirage 2000 threat later.
But today, the PLAAF is operating much more capable fighters, such as the J-10 and J-20.
Even with the latest modernization, the F-CK-1 is nothing but a fourth-generation combat
aircraft.
To restore balance, the ROCAF did not prefer new F-CK-1s but ordered new F-16s.
So, is it right to say the F-CK-1 is entirely useless?
No really.
With its long-range air-to-air engagement and naval strike capabilities, this fighter
still has crucial potential in a possible war.
Also, we should remember that the ROCAF is training its pilot according to Western standards
and tactics, which have repeatedly proved their efficiencies against Eastern ones.
If Taiwan is alone in a possible war, it can not stand China's overwhelming numerical superiority
for long.
But, the ROCAF has to hold on until the U.S. cavalry arrives.
After that, if China is still willing to fight, the result will probably be a nuclear armageddon.
In this scenario, the capabilities of the Taiwanese F-CK-1 or Chinese J-20 will be irrelevant.
Why has any country other than Taiwan not preferred this aircraft?
First, the Taiwanese have never seriously tried to sell the F-CK-1.
In fact, there was no point in making such an effort.
No one wanted to offend China by buying Taiwanese weapon systems in the 1990s and 2000s.
Also, the U.S.A., which helped during the design and development phase and provided
many subsystems, would never allow AIDC to infiltrate the market of the U.S. aviation
companies.
Moreover, even Taiwan stopped the production of the F-CK-1 when it was allowed to acquire
the F-16 and Mirage 2000.
This Taiwanese fighter could not compete with the U.S. and French rivals domestically.
How could it beat them in the international market?
Some analysts claim that Taiwan developed the F-CK-1 to give a message to the West.
"You could lose a big and profitable market".
And it worked.
The U.S.A and France consented to sell their fourth-generation fighters.
This claim might be the best answer for why the F-CK-1 symbolize the rise and decline
of the Taiwanese aviation industry.
In a possible war, this fighter jet can stall the mighty and vigorous dragons and prevent
a naval invasion until the arrival of the cavalry.
As we see, the F-CK-1 also had a crucial role in convincing the West to start selling modern
weapons again to Taiwan.
So, we may say the F-CK-1 is not a superior combat aircraft.
But it has done its job perfectly.
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