Taiwan’s air force halted its series of Mirage 2000 fighter jets on Monday when one of them crashed into the water, the second combat aircraft loss in three months, albeit the pilot was recovered this time.
The French-built aircraft took off shortly after 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) on a training mission from the Chihhang air base in the southeastern city of Taitung, but was forced to return due to a mechanical problem, according to the air force.
According to the report, the pilot ejected over the water south of the air base and was rescued safely and in good health by helicopter.
According to Air Force Inspector-General Liu Hui-chien, the Mirage fleet will be grounded while an inquiry is conducted.
Taiwan purchased its first of 60 Mirage planes in 1997, though they have subsequently been updated multiple times. Six people have died in accidents since then.
After a recently upgraded model of the fighter jet crashed into the sea, killing the pilot, the air force suspended combat training for its much larger F-16 fleet in January.
Last year, two F-5E fighters, which first saw duty in Taiwan in the 1970s, crashed into the sea after colliding in mid-flight during a training mission from the Chihhang air station.
In late 2020, an F-16 vanished shortly after taking off from Taiwan’s east coast’s Hualien air base on a regular training flight.
While Taiwan’s air force is well-trained, it has been frequently scrambling in the last two years to see off Chinese military aircraft straying into its air defence zone, despite the fact that the mishaps have not been linked in any way to these intercept actions.
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