Taiwan's aggressive programme to advance an avant-garde fighter to alter its agile of F-5s and F-104s began in 1982, afterwards the US government placed an embargo on the auction of the Northrop F-20 and any commensurable fighter. The aforementioned restrictions were not placed on abstruse assistance, however, and US aerospace companies accept collaborated carefully with AIDC to advance an aboriginal fighter and weapons system. Abetment has been provided by General Dynamics (airframe), Garrett (propulsion), Westinghouse (radar) and a Smiths Industries-led aggregation (avionics).
The aircraft is able with a Golden Dragon GD-53 multi-mode pulse-Doppler alarm based on the AN/APG-67(V) developed for the F-20, but accumulation some technology from the Westinghouse AN/APG-66 assemblage acclimated by the F-16A.
Of mostly accepted all-metal construction, the Ching Kuo is of accepted configuration, admitting with wing/fuselage blending. The pilot sits on a Martin-Baker Mk 12 casting bench and the pressurized cockpit is adapted with a sidestick controller, a wide-angle head-up display, and three multi-function look-down displays.
The aboriginal ancestor fabricated its beginning flight on 28 May 1989, and on 10 February 1994, the Republic of China Air Force's No7 Squadron about apparent its aircraft, which included two assembly single-seaters (designated F-CK-1A) and two assembly two-seater about-face trainers (F-CK-1B). In March 1993, the country's assembly appear that accretion would be bound to alone 130 aircraft, to accouter two, instead of the planned four, wings. The final two aircraft were delivered in 2000. AIDC seeks government approval to action a downgraded adaptation of the two-seater Ching Kuo for consign as a lead-in/advanced fighter trainer. This would not absorb radar, centralized gun or cyberbanking adverse measures systems.
