Taiwan grounds Mirage fighter jet fleet after crash at sea

PHOTO CAPTION: Taiwan Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jets taxi during military drills to test readiness ahead of Lunar New Year, in Hsinchu, Taiwan January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's air force said on Wednesday it had grounded its fleet of French-made Mirage fighter jets for maintenance checks after one crashed off the island's northwest coast, though the pilot was rescued.

The Mirage was conducting nighttime exercises late on Tuesday after taking off from the Hsinchu air base when it suffered a loss of engine power and the pilot bailed out. Rescuers later found him and took him to hospital.

The air force said the Mirage fleet has now been grounded for checks, and that they would ensure sufficient coverage from other aircraft to make up for those taken out of rotation.

The U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet is the mainstay of Taiwan's air force. Taiwan received its first of 60 Mirage 2000 jets in 1997, though they have been upgraded several times since then. At least seven have since been lost in accidents.

Taiwan's air force has suffered a series of crashes in recent years, including in 2022 when it grounded its Mirage fleet after one crashed into the sea off the east coast.

While Taiwan's air force is well trained, it has been repeatedly scrambling to see off Chinese military aircraft flying near the island in the past five years, though the accidents have not been linked in any way to these intercept activities.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Alex Richardson, Sonali Paul and Kim Coghill)