French Built Mirage 2000s on Taiwan Cement Status as World’s Most Crash-Prone Fighters: Pilot Survives Latest Loss

The Republic of China Air Force headquartered in Taipei lost a Mirage 2000 fighter on September 10, with the fighter crashing during a training exercise over waters off Hsinchu County at 8:35pm. Pilot Hsieh Pei-hsun successfully ejected and was rescued. Local sources on Taiwan have reported that the aircraft lost power during the exercises. The fighter is the eighth Mirage 2000 lost to crashes out of a fleet of just 60 fighters, which makes the aircraft some of the most accident prone and least reliable in the world. Although a number of European sources have sought to deflect blame from the performance of the French built aircraft, claiming that maintenance practices on Taiwan may be partly responsible, the Republic of China Air Force deploys two other fourth generation fighter classes, the F-16 and the F-CK Ching Kuo, both of which have had very low accident rates despite being acquired at around the same time as the Mirages. This crash rate has been important factor in the Air Force’s prioritisation of the retirement of the Mirages, with cracks having regularly appeared in the aircraft while no similar issues have affected the F-16 or the Ching Kuo.

The Republic of China Air Force’s fourth generation fighter fleet was initially expected to be formed almost entirely of indigenous Ching Kuo fighter aircraft, before the United States and France agreed to supply 140 F-16s and 60 Mirage 2000s respectively in the early-mid 1990s. Sales had previously not been expected due to the Republic of China’s international status, as Taipei lacks diplomatic relations with any major country or a seat at the United Nations which had led arms sales to it to be widely compared to sales to a non-state actor. The F-16 in particular was considered more cost effective than the Ching Kuo, with its combat performance being superior while its operational costs were lower. The Mirage 2000 was considered in the 1990s to be the service’s most elite fighter class, and was by far the most costly, although its status would decline significantly due to upgrades to the F-16 and Ching Kuo fleets. Both American and local fighters would be equipped with new generations of active radar guided air to air missiles, the AIM-120 and Sky Sword II respectively.

The F-16 fleet has been modernised to the ‘4+ generation’ F-16V standard from the mid-2010s, which included integrating AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array radar. The Republic of China’s Aerospace Industry Development Centre delivered the first 62 F-16Vs in November 2021. Alongside acquisitions of F-16Vs, the Air Force will receive 66 newly built F-16 Block 70/72s ordered in 2019 which are expected to allow it to fully phase the Mirage 2000 out of service. Unlike the United States, which has offered the F-16V upgrade package to clients, France has not offered modernisation deals for the Mirage 2000. The Taipei-based Republic of China and the Beijing-based People’s Republic of China currently remain officially in a state of civil war, with each constitutionally claiming to be the sole government of the Chinese nation.