TAIPEI, March 22 (Reuters) - Deliveries of delayed F-16V fighter jets for Taiwan will begin this year with production at "full capacity", the island's defence ministry said after senior defence officials visited the United States.
Taiwan, which faces a rising military threat from China, has complained of repeated delays to weapons ordered from the U.S., the most important international backer and arms supplier for the island, which Beijing claims as its territory.
The United States in 2019 approved an $8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the island's F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems.
Deputy Minister Hsu Szu-chien, accompanied by Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Tien Chung-yi, visited Lockheed Martin's F-16V assembly line in South Carolina on Monday to view the first aircraft, Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.
Deliveries will begin this year, the ministry said, without elaborating.
Lockheed Martin has assigned several hundred personnel to assemble the remaining aircraft, and "there are no bottlenecks in either parts supply or manpower; production is proceeding at full capacity on a two-shift schedule", it said.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it was committed to "delivering advanced deterrence capabilities to support Taiwan's security goals".
"We continue to work closely with the U.S. government to accelerate delivery where possible," it said.
Because the F-16V is a new model specially designed for Taiwan, continued test flights are still needed to fine-tune its systems, and tests must be carefully carried out, the ministry said.
Taiwan has converted 141 older F-16A/B jets into the F-16V type and has ordered 66 new F-16Vs, which have advanced avionics, weapons and radar systems to better face down the Chinese air force, including its stealthy J-20 fighters.
Hsu also attended a delivery ceremony in the U.S. for two of the four MQ-9B "SkyGuardian" drones it has on order, the ministry said on Sunday, while the other two are to come next year.
Made by General Atomics, the MQ-9 series of drones has been widely used in combat situations, including by Israel over Gaza.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by William Mallard)
