Taiwan to receive first new F-16 Viper jets from US: How are they different from older Falcons?

Taiwan is set to receive the first two of 66 newly built F-16V or Viper fighter jets under a US deal worth around $8 billion, as Taipei moves to strengthen its air defences amid growing Chinese military activity around the island.According to Reuters, the first two aircraft are due to arrive at Taiwan's Taitung Air Base on Friday, marking the start of deliveries under the long-delayed programme.Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said more F-16Vs would arrive before the end of the year, with the deliveries eventually taking the island's F-16 fleet to more than 200 aircraft.The $8 billion deal was approved by the United States in 2019 and covers 66 new F-16V aircraft built by Lockheed Martin. The programme faced delays linked to production and software issues, with deliveries originally expected to begin earlier.Taiwan has also upgraded its existing fleet of F-16A/B fighters to the F-16V standard under a separate modernisation programme. The upgrades have given the older aircraft newer avionics, radar and other systems, while the latest order involves brand-new F-16V Block 70 fighters.The delivery of the first F-16Vs comes just days after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit in Washington, where Taiwan remained a key point of tension between the two countries.The arrival also comes amid uncertainty over Washington's future arms support for Taipei, despite repeated assurances from US officials that there has been no change in policy toward Taiwan.Taiwan is still waiting for the Trump administration to approve a new arms package worth about $14 billion, which has remained on hold for months.Trump said in May, after meeting Xi in Beijing, that he was keeping the package “in abeyance”, while the US had approved a separate $11 billion arms package in December 2025.China has repeatedly opposed US arms sales to Taiwan and had urged Washington to exercise “extreme caution” over such deals ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.How the Viper is different from older FalconsTaiwan's new F-16V Block 70 fighters retain the basic design of the F-16 Fighting Falcon but come with a substantially modernised electronics and mission systems suite.The biggest upgrade is the AN/APG-83 AESA radar, which provides improved detection, tracking and targeting capabilities compared with the mechanically scanned radars fitted to many older F-16s.Lockheed Martin says the radar incorporates technology from the AESA systems developed for the F-22 and F-35.The Viper also gets a modernised mission computer, upgraded avionics, high-resolution cockpit display, high-speed data bus and advanced datalink capabilities.These systems allow pilots to process and share battlefield information more quickly and support modern precision-guided weapons and targeting systems.Another major difference is the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS), designed to automatically help prevent an aircraft from crashing into terrain if the pilot becomes unable to recover the aircraft.The new Block 70 also has a strengthened airframe designed for a 12,000-hour service life, more than 50 percent higher than previous production F-16s, according to Lockheed Martin.