AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo

Background The preliminary search for a replacement for the ROCAF's F-5s and F-104s began with the XF-6 indigenous fighter project, later renamed Ying Yang, in the late 1970s. After the US established formal relations with China and ended the Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan, President Chiang Ching-Kuo decided to expand the indigenous defense industry and on August 28, 1980, ordered AIDC to design an indigenous interceptor. Originally, the ROCAF listed the priority of the XF-6 behind the XA-3 Lei Ming single seat attack aircraft, due to the believed high risks of the XF-6 project. The signing of the 1982 US-China Joint Communiqué limited arms sales to Taiwan. The United States refused to sell the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Northrop F-20 Tigershark (which had been developed largely to meet Taiwanese national defense needs for an advanced jet fighter to replace their older F-5 jet fighters) thereby ensuring the continuation of the indigenous fighter project. Although US President Ronald Reagan reluctantly accepted his advisers' suggestion of building relations with China to counter the USSR, Reagan decided to balance the 1982 US-PRC Communiqué with the "Six Assurances" to Taiwan. This opened the door for US technology transfer and assistance to Taiwan's defense industry, including the IDF project. Design phase The AIDC officially began the IDF development project in May 1982 following the ROCAF's failure to purchase new fighters from the United States as a result of Chinese diplomatic pressure. The project, led by Hsi-Chun Mike Hua, later known as the father of the Indigenous Defense Fighter, was named An-Hsiang (安翔, Safe Flight) and divided into four sections in 1983: • Ying-Yang (鷹揚): "Soaring Eagle". Development of the airframe. Some cooperation with General Dynamics. • Yun-Han (雲漢): "Galaxy". Development of the aircraft powerplant and propulsion. Cooperation with Garrett (Now Honeywell). • Tien-Lei (天雷): "Thunder". Development of the avionics systems. Some cooperation with Smiths Industries, with some components purchased directly from Lear Astronics (today a subsidiary of BAE), Litton (today a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman) and Martin-Baker. • Tien-Chien (天劍): "Sky Sword". Development of air-to-air missiles. In April 1997 American company Litton's Applied Technology division was awarded a production contract and options totaling $116.2 million by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation for Improved Radar Warning Receivers (IRWR) to be installed aboard. Ying Yang: aerodynamic design The cooperation between AIDC and General Dynamics (GD) was divided into four phases: • GD analyzed the ROCAF's aircraft performance and force requirements. • Taiwan assessed GD's reports and chose between AIDC's original design and GD's new design. • AIDC sent personnel to GD for the preliminary design phase. • GD sent personnel to Taiwan to complete the project. GD's assistance was restricted by the US State Department's arms export control, which limited GD's work to initial design consulting but not further development, production, or marketing. Many different airframe design concepts were explored (e.g. the 2D Thrust-Vectoring nozzle of XX-201, the double delta wings/twin tailed 401). After the General Electric J79 was officially abandoned as the potential engine solution in 1983, three configurations emerged from AIDC. • Configuration A was similar to the F-5E. • Configuration B was similar to the Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen. • Configuration C was similar to the F-15. At the same time, GD worked on the G configuration in parallel. Eventually the G-4 was selected, but with many features of the C-2 integrated. During this time, the project was named the "Light Weight Defense Fighter". In 1985, the configuration conceptual design had evolved into the SE-1 preliminary design. By the end of 1985, AIDC decided to skip the prototype stage and go into Full Scale Development (FSD) directly, in order to reduce time and save money. The project was again renamed into the "Indigenous Defense Fighter". Four FSD aircraft were made, with three single-seaters and one double-seater. Tien Lei: avionics The IDF is equipped with a GD-53 Golden Dragon multi-mode monopulse pulse-Doppler radar, which is based on the General Electric AN/APG-67 X band radar developed for the F-20 while sharing some components and technologies of the AN/APG-66 radar of the F-16A, and using a larger antenna than used by the F-20. Some capabilities may have been delayed or dropped in order to meet the performance requirement, since the engine limitation has resulted in the necessity of strict weight control. Tien Chien: missiles The CSIST's Tien Chien (Sky Sword) project was slightly more independent, since it was considered to be a development for all the ROCAF's aircraft rather than only the IDF. The Tien Chien 1 (TC-1) is a short range infrared-seeking missile with an external configuration similar to that of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, while the Tien Chien 2 (TC-2) is an active radar homing Beyond Visual Range missile. The first test firing of the TC-1 missile was performed by an F-5E in April 1986, with the Beech target drone successfully destroyed. Initial production of the TC-1 began in 1989, and it entered service in 1991. Both the AIM-9 and the TC-1 have been seen in use on operational IDFs. The first stage of upgrades to the fleet was originally planned to be completed by 2013, and was planned to include improved avionics, radar, electronics, weapons capabilities and lifespan extensions. In May 2014, the ROC Air Force made photos of the fighters with enhanced Wan Chien long-range missile capabilities public. The upgrade program was finally completed in 2018. ==Operational history==