Malfunction delays U.S. delivery of P-3C aircraft to Taiwan

The delivery of one of the 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft from the United States was behind schedule due to a malfunction in its flight control system.
Taiwan received the first P-3C aircraft last September, and three more were scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan by the end of 2013.
However, during a legislative committee session Thursday, lawmaker Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintag revealed that the three sub-hunters should have been flown to Taiwan from Guam in December, but only one arrived here on Dec. 12.
Delivery of the other two was delayed due to a serious malfunction, after being flown there from mainland United States.
One of the two P-3Cs eventually arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 17, after its problem was fixed. The other one was still in Guam waiting to be repaired.
According to the schedule, five more P-3Cs will be delivered to Taiwan in 2014, and another three in 2015, when the P-3C fleet will be commissioned, the Air Force said.
The P-3Cs will replace a fleet of 11 S-2T anti-submarine aircraft that has been in service for more than 40 years.
The U.S. government approved the sale of the 12 P-3Cs with T-56 turboprop engines and related equipment and services in 2007.
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