Taiwan Shows Off New E2Ks: Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian recently presided over the commissioning ceremony of newly arrived E2K early-warning aircraft at one of the island’s military bases. With these new aircraft, reports the China Post, Taiwan can expand its radar surveillance of the Taiwan Strait. Chen has been pushing to expand the island’s defenses, arguing that better defenses are needed to prevent mainland China from developing an intractable military advantage over the small island. Pentagon policy chief Ryan Henry told reporters in Washington earlier this year that Beijing appears to be “preparing for something other than a political solution to the Taiwan problem.”
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.