Taiwan seeking US cooperation to make next generation fighters

The head of Taiwanese defence contractor Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) said, Taiwan is seeking U.S. cooperation to make the island’s next domestically developed fighter jet.
Taiwan’s air force scrambles daily to see off incursions by Chinese jets into the airspace around the island as Beijing steps up its pressure to try and force Taiwan to accept China’s sovereignty.
While the mainstay of Taiwan’s air force is Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-16s and French-build Mirages it also uses AIDC’s F-CK-1 Ching-kuo Indigenous Defence Fighter, or IDF.
Taiwan IDF fleet was rolled out more than three decades ago but has been upgraded.
Speaking at a Taiwan-U.S. defence industry forum in Taipei, AIDC Chairman Hu Kai-hung said the company wanted to raise its technical prowess to help with the development of Taiwan’s next generation fighter.