대만, F-16V 1기 추락

[위종민]

1월 6일 현지시각 19시 29분에 화롄현 해상에서 F-16V 기체번호 6700번 기체가 추락했네요. 파일럿의 이젝션 여부는 확인되지 않았고, 아직까지 수색중입니다. 

대만 공군 F-16, 야간 작전 중 해상 추락
게시일: 2026년 1월 6일 오후 7시 9분

카이 그리트 작성

대만 F-16 추락
중화민국 공군 F-16의 예시 이미지. (이미지 출처: Al Jazeera English/CC BY-SA 2.0)

F-16 조종사 신보이(辛博義)는 해안에서 약 10해리 떨어진 해상에서 항공기에서 탈출한 것으로 추정된다. 작성 시점 기준으로 수색 및 구조 작업은 아직 진행 중인 것으로 알려졌다.

사고는 2026년 1월 6일 현지 시각 19시 29분(UTC 11시 29분)에 발생했으며, 화롄현 해상에서 중화민국 공군(RoCAF) 소속 F-16V(기체 번호 6700)가 레이더 화면에서 사라졌다. 공식 발표에 따르면 해당 항공기는 정기 훈련에 참여 중이었고, 화롄 공군기지에서 이륙한 지 한 시간 남짓 지난 시점이었다.

목차
F-16 조종사 신보이는 해안에서 약 10해리 떨어진 해상에서 항공기에서 탈출한 것으로 추정된다. 작성 시점 기준으로 수색 및 구조 작업은 아직 진행 중인 것으로 알려졌다.
긴장 지점
업데이트 19:40 UTC
업데이트 04:45 UTC

C-130과 UH-60 블랙호크 항공기, 해안경비대 함정을 포함한 수색 및 구조(SAR) 전력이 즉각 가동됐다. 인근의 민간 선박들도 지원 요청에 응했다. 그러나 SAR 작업의 진행 상황에 대한 추가 업데이트는 아직 전해지지 않았다.

현재 중화민국, 즉 대만의 총통으로 재임 중인 라이칭더는 소셜미디어에 글을 올려 “국방부와 관계 부처에 인명 안전을 최우선으로 하고 전면적인 수색 및 구조 작전을 수행하라고 지시했다”고 밝혔다. 그는 또한 “공군 대응 센터가 합동 수색 및 구조 작전을 개시했으며, 화롄 인근 해역을 적극적으로 수색하고 있다”고 덧붙였다.

기체 번호 6700은 원래 F-16A로 중화민국 공군에 인도됐다. 이 기체는 2017년부터 전력 전체와 함께 개량 프로그램을 거쳐 2024년 2월까지 모든 기체가 업그레이드를 완료했으며, 블록 72 기준으로 성능이 향상돼 현재는 F-16V로 지정돼 있다. F-16V 형식의 완전 운용 능력(FOC)은 2021년에 선언됐다. 중화민국 공군은 신조 블록 70 F-16도 주문했으며, 첫 완성 기체는 2025년 3월 사우스캐롤라이나주 그린빌에 있는 록히드마틴 공장에서 공개됐다.

중화민국 공군은 1993년에 F-16 150대를 주문했으며, 모든 인도는 2001년까지 완료됐다. ‘피스 펑황(Peace Fenghuang)’ 또는 ‘피스 피닉스(Peace Phoenix)’로 알려진 대외군사판매(FMS) 프로그램은 중화인민공화국(PRC)으로부터 큰 반발을 불러일으켰는데, PRC는 이를 이전의 미국 약속과 정책에 대한 ‘배신’으로 간주했다. 미국은 1979년 PRC와 외교 관계를 수립한 이후 중화민국과 공식 외교 관계를 유지하지 않고 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고 미국은 여전히 중화민국의 최대 교역 상대국이자 가장 중요한 전략적 동맹국이다.

긴장 지점
PRC가 대만에 대한 주권을 주장하는 가운데, 최근 PRC 군사력이 대만 주변에서 점점 더 대담한 작전을 전개하면서, 중화민국 공군의 F-16과 기타 항공기들은 빈번히 언론의 주목을 받아 왔다. 2024년 10월에는 PRC 항공모함 랴오닝에서 출격한 전투기들과 중화민국 공군 전투기 사이의 조우 사례를 보도한 바 있다.

PRC는 2025년 말에 ‘정의 임무 2025(Justice Mission 2025)’라고 명명한 추가 훈련을 실시했다. 이 훈련에는 인민해방군 해군(PLAN)과 중국 해안경비대 소속의 상당한 규모의 함정 전력이 포함됐으며, 실사격 임무도 수행됐다. 육상과 함정에서 출격한 항공기들은 공중 강습 전술을 연습했는데, 이는 훈련 구역이 대만을 둘러싸고 설정된 점을 감안할 때 대만 침공 가능성을 염두에 둔 것이 분명해 보였다.

중화민국 공군은 대만 해상 경계 인근에서 PRC의 활동을 감시하고 억제하기 위해 자주 투입되며, 발생할 수 있는 모든 상황에 대비하기 위해 높은 훈련 강도를 유지하고 있다.

업데이트 19:40 UTC
수색 및 구조 작전은 여전히 진행 중이지만, 악천후로 인해 어려움을 겪고 있다. 최대 3미터에 달하는 파도와 강풍이 수색 자산의 활동을 저해하고 있으며, 낮은 수온은 조종사의 생존 가능성을 위협하고 있다.

업데이트 04:45 UTC
안타깝게도 수색 및 구조 노력은 계속되고 있으며, 조종사는 여전히 실종 상태다. 공식 소식통으로부터의 새로운 정보에 따르면, 그의 탈출 여부는 이제 완전히 확인되지 않은 상태다.

이 사건의 원인에 대한 추가 조사가 진행되는 동안, 대만의 F-16 전 기종은 운항이 중단됐다.

이 기사는 진행 중인 사안에 관한 것이며, 새로운 정보가 확인되는 대로 업데이트될 예정이다.

Taiwanese F-16 Crashes at Sea During Night Operations - The Aviationist

Taiwanese F-16 Crashes at Sea During Night Operations

Taiwanese F-16 Crashes at Sea During Night Operations

Published on: January 6, 2026 at 7:09 PM

Follow Us On Google News

 Kai Greet

Illustrative image of a Rrepublic of China Air Force F-16. (Image credit: Al Jazeera English/CC BY-SA 2.0)

SHARE

The F-16 pilot, Hsin Po-yi, is believed to have ejected from the aircraft around 10 nautical miles off the coast. Search and rescue efforts are, at the time of writing, understood to still be in progress.

The incident occurred at 19:29 local time (11:29 UTC) on Jan. 6, 2026, when the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) F-16V (serial 6700) disappeared from radar screens off the coast of Hualien County. Official statements say the aircraft was taking part in routine training at the time, having taken off from Hualien Air Base just over an hour prior.

Contents

The F-16 pilot, Hsin Po-yi, is believed to have ejected from the aircraft around 10 nautical miles off the coast. Search and rescue efforts are, at the time of writing, understood to still be in progress.FlashpointUpdate 19:40 UTCUpdate 04:45 UTC

Search and rescue (SAR) forces, including C-130 and UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft and Coast Guard vessels, were immediately activated. Nearby civilian vessels also responded to calls for assistance. No update on the progress of the SAR effort has yet been received.

Lai Ching-te, currently serving as President of the Republic of China – also known as Taiwan – wrote on social media, saying he had “instructed the Ministry of National Defense and relevant units to prioritize the safety of personnel and to conduct a full-scale search and rescue operation”. He added that the “Air Force Response Center has launched a joint search and rescue operation and is actively searching the waters off Hualien.”

Airframe 6700 was delivered to the RoCAF as an F-16A. It underwent an upgrade program alongside the rest of the fleet beginning in 2017 (with all airframes upgraded by February 2024) bringing it up to Block 72 standard, and it is now designated an F-16V. Full operating capability (FOC) for the F-16V variant was declared in 2021. New build Block 70 F-16s have been ordered by the RoCAF, and the first complete airframe was revealed at Lockheed Martin’s Greenville, South Carolina plant in March 2025.

150 F-16s were ordered by the RoCAF in 1993, and all deliveries were then completed by 2001. The foreign military sales program, known as Peace Fenghuang, or Peace Phoenix, drew significant protest from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who considered it a ‘betrayal’ of prior U.S. commitments and policy. The United States has not officially maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China since 1979, when diplomatic relations with the PRC were opened. Despite this, the U.S. remains the Republic of China’s largest trading partner and its most important strategic ally.

Flashpoint

With increasingly bold operations by the military forces of the PRC around the island of Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty, the F-16s and other aircraft of the RoCAF have frequently been in the news spotlight. In October 2024, we reported on an encounter between RoCAF and PRC fighter aircraft while the latter operated from the aircraft carrier Liaoning during an exercise.

The PRC launched more drills in the final days of 2025, which it called “Justice Mission 2025”. The exercise included a significant force of naval vessels from both the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the China Coast Guard, which took part in live fire missions. Aircraft launched from land and from ships practiced airborne assault techniques, undoubtedly focused on the potential mission of an invasion of Taiwan – around which the exercise areas circled.

The RoCAF are frequently called upon to monitor and deter PRC activity near Taiwan’s maritime borders, and maintains a high training tempo in order to sustain this and prepare for any situation that might arise.

Update 19:40 UTC

The search and rescue operation is still ongoing, and is being hampered by poor weather. Ocean swells of up to 3 metres and high winds are hampering the search assets, and cold temperatures will threaten the pilot’s chances of survival.

Update 04:45 UTC

Unfortunately, search and rescue efforts continue and the pilot remains missing. New information from official sources indicates that his ejection can now not be completely confirmed.

Taiwan’s entire fleet of F-16s has been grounded pending further investigations into the cause of this incident.

This article concerns an ongoing story, and will be updated as and when new information becomes available. 

[백선호]

밤에 바다 위에서 훈련하다가 추락했네요... ㅠ.ㅠ

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/01/10/2003850370

앞으로 사고 방지를 위해 Auto GCAS(automatic ground collision avoidance systems)를 새로 설치하려고 한다고 합니다.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/01/08/2003850260

[위종민]

겨울의 대만 바다는 많이 험할텐데 ㅜㅜ