by Joseph
K.
One of Lockheed
Martin's legacy companies, General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (GDFW), was
awarded a contract in the mid-1980s to assist Aero Industry Development Center
(AIDC), a quasi-government entity in Taiwan, in building a high-performance
fighter, literally from the ground up. I was a senior engineering specialist
(avionics) on the program for nine years, including over three years onsite in
Taichung. The program continued in 1992 after Lockheed bought GDFW. The airplane
is known as the Indigenous Defensive Fighter (IDF), the Soaring Eagle. The
program took place because the United States would not sell F-16 Fighting
Falcons to Taiwan in those years.
