TAIPEI — A second batch of three F-16V Block 70 fighter jets purchased from the United States is expected to arrive in Taiwan soon, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Friday, speaking briefly to reporters before a legislative hearing in Taipei, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

Source: CNA (Focus Taiwan), Nov 6, 2026

Koo gave no exact arrival date, and the Ministry of National Defense is expected to give further notice of the timing. Taiwan's Taipei Times, reporting the same remarks on Friday, headlined its account: the ministry confirms the second batch of three F-16V Block 70s is to arrive soon. A Taiwanese television report earlier in the week said the three jets were expected to reach Hawaii — the usual staging point on the ferry route to Taiwan — within days.

Source: Taipei Times, Nov 6, 2026 (via EIN News)

A programme running three years late

The jets are part of an order for 66 new F-16V Block 70 aircraft that the United States approved in 2019 for around US$8 billion — yaani about 800 crore US dollars. The first two aircraft, tail numbers 6727 and 6728, landed at Chihhang Air Base in the eastern county of Taitung around noon on October 2, after flying in via Hawaii and Guam, CNA reported at the time. Deliveries had originally been due to begin in 2023, and the programme slipped by roughly three years amid production, software and supply-chain problems.

On the day the first pair arrived, Koo said more than two jets would be delivered this year, that the dates of later deliveries would be set in coordination with the United States, and that some of the remaining aircraft had already reached the stage of being ready for delivery. He also said eastern Taiwan would be an important stronghold for preserving combat power. The Air Force stood up its 7th Tactical Fighter Wing in December 2023 to receive and operate the new fleet at Chihhang.

The deliveries matter because Taiwan's air force scrambles almost daily to monitor Chinese military activity around the island, Defense News reported when the first jets arrived, and the F-16V order is the largest single item in a backlog of US arms sales to Taiwan that the Associated Press put at almost US$30 billion, with a further US$14 billion package still awaiting US approval. Three more jets will not by themselves change the balance across the Taiwan Strait — but after a three-year wait, a second batch on its way is the first sign the delivery line is finally flowing. Awaaz Punjab will report the jets' arrival when the ministry confirms it.