Design
The AIDC officially began the IDF development project in May 1982 following the ROCAF's failure to purchase new fighters from the United States as a result of the PRC's diplomatic pressure. The project was named An Hsiang (安翔):Safe Flight) and divided into four sections in 1983:
- Yin-Yang (鷹揚): "Soaring Eagle". Development of the airframe. Cooperation with General Dynamics.
- Yun-Han (雲漢): "Cloud Man". Development of the aircraft powerplant and propulsion. Cooperation with Garrett (Now Honeywell).
- Tien-Lei (天雷): "Sky Thunder". Development of the avionics systems. Cooperation with Smiths Industries, with some components purchased directly from Lear Astronics (later BAE), Litton (later Northrop Grumman) and Martin-Baker.
- Tien-Chien (天劍): "Sky Sword". Development of air-to-air missiles.
The greatest difficulties were encountered by the propulsion group in attempting to develop or acquire suitable advanced jet engines. There is also speculation that the use of less powerful engines was due to political rather than technical reasons, namely that the US did not want to see the Republic of China provoke the People's Republic of China and thus mandated the IDF to have a "range no greater than the F-5E" and "ground attack capability no greater than the F-16". Regardless of the reason, many people consider the original 1980s prototype F-CK-1 to be somewhat underpowered due to its original engines.
In April 1997 American company Litton's Applied Technology division was awarded a production contract and options totaling $116.2 million by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation for Improved Radar Warning Receivers (IRWR) to be installed aboard.
Read more about this topic: AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo
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