All F-16s to get ground collision avoidance systemsSTILL SEARCHING: An air force officer said that fitting F-16 jets with Auto-GCAS is a time-consuming process involving the integration of complex systems and trainingBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAThe air force would install automatic ground collision avoidance systems (Auto-GCAS) on all of its F-16V jets by next year, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, two days after a fighter pilot went missing in an apparent mishap. Air force Captain Hsin Po-yi (辛柏毅) was flying a Lockheed Martin F-16V on a routine training flight on Tuesday night when the jet vanished from radar over waters off Hualien County. However, the air force operates 139 F-16Vs that lack the safety system, he said. For the same reasons, the US Air Force has yet to fully outfit its F-16s with Auto-GCAS technology, he said, adding that test flights are still being conducted. The air force continually searches for ways to improve pilot survivability, he said.

Source: Taipei Times January 08, 2026 16:32 UTC