30th anniversary of Taiwan's AT-3 jet trainer celebrated

Taiwan celebrated Friday the 30th anniversary of the maiden flight of its self-designed, self-manufactured jet trainer.In attendance at the Taichung complex of Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), were Vice Minister of Economics Lin Sheng-chung, Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu, AIDC Chairman Shung Yeou-kuang and representatives from the Air Force.The event started with a film looking back at the difficulties encountered and overcome during three decades of the trainer's development."Without the AIDC, there would be no aerospace industry in Taiwan," Lin said.Due to the experience gained by developing the AT-3 trainers, Taiwan was later able to develop its first indigenous defense fighters: a supersonic, twin-engined plane similar to the F-16 but slightly smaller and with a slightly shorter range.

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Posted in: Taiwan,Training aircraft