After 66 F-16Vs in place, there were not enough pilots! Taiwan scholars suggested that retired pilots return to the army

According to Taiwan media reports, Taiwan's Air Force will receive 66 F-16V Block70 fighters by 2026, and whether the number of pilots can meet the needs of combat training has aroused concern. Scholars suggest that countries, including the US Air Force's national soldiers and Israel, have precedents for reserve pilots to participate in front-line combat training and combat tasks, and the Taiwan military may consider expanding the scale to handle it accordingly. However, Taiwan military officials pointed out that if the reserve pilots only participate in the training on weekends, they may not be able to meet the needs of front-line combat readiness, so at present, the reserve talents are all used for reserve pilot instructors and "IP instructors", and there are now more than 40 people.

Su Ziyun, director of the Institute of Defense Strategy and Resources of Taiwan's "National Defense Academy," believes that due to factors such as "low birthrate," most countries and regions are facing the problem of a shortage of military pilots and a rapid decline in the cockpit ratio. However, some pilots of the U.S. Air Force's national militia who participated in the Persian Gulf War and the Afghan War were civil aviation pilots in peacetime, but they were able to return to the army in wartime, and Israel also had a similar system, which was able to take into account the needs of society and defense, and balance the pilot's enthusiasm for flying and personal career.

Su Ziyun said: Taiwan's defense department could think about expanding the handling of "reserve fighters" under reasonable conditions, granting preferential tax concessions to airlines, and encouraging retired civil aviation pilots to return to the troops regularly to carry out their duties. In addition, reasonable promotion treatment may be considered, and if there is a public injury or accident, the Taiwan military can properly take care of the dependents.

However, Taiwan military officials pointed out that from a practical point of view, it is debatable whether the recruitment of fighter reserve flight officers can meet the needs of front-line combat training. In terms of the current "reserve soldier" policy, retired pilots can only participate in flight practice on weekends and during exercises, and they do not accompany the activities and exercises of the troops in peacetime, and the training flow is different from that of active duty pilots.

At present, the Air Force has recruited more than forty "IP instructors" (instructor pilots), which is equivalent to the flight hiring teachers of the Air Force Officer Academy, and several reserve flight instructors who follow the activities of the wing, responsible for the training of the air force's front-line troops, rotorcraft training, and can also fly in the rear seat of the two-seat aircraft and carry out training for training. And these instructors are mostly discharged from the army as school-level officers, which is conducive to manpower connection and cultivation.