I can't wait to see BlueWing or French Frigate shouting "Rafale for Taiwan!" in this thread soon enough.

French side is not the one to be blamed. Part of the problem is due to purchase operation inside MOD of ROC, and part of the reason is that the purchase is through commercial channel, not the usual FMS channel from the US that the military personnel are used to. That are a lot of middle men to go through. You'll be surprised about who actually receive the money.

 

And, I indeed call for sale of Rafale to Taiwan and I stand by my words. After all, we might be able to get some discount by trade-in the old Mirages, and the MICA and Magic missiles that we've bought are still usable.

It doesn't work like that in arms sales to Taiwan. Weapons sold to Taiwan carry "China surcharge" to account for increased friction with China. This is why Taiwan paid $732 million for four Kidd-class destroyers, when the US originally offered these ships to other countries for $20 million each and found no buyer.

 

The way I see it, Taiwan should go to Russia for future arms deal, since Russia is the only arms exporter that could ignore protest from China and sell whatever they want, be it PAK-FA, S-400, Yakhont, etc.

Once more history REPEATS. Junk is junk.

 

The F-16s faced the same environmental conditions for example.

 

Why didn't they fail?

It doesn't work like that in arms sales to Taiwan. Weapons sold to Taiwan carry "China surcharge" to account for increased friction with China. This is why Taiwan paid $732 million for four Kidd-class destroyers, when the US originally offered these ships to other countries for $20 million each and found no buyer.

$20 million price tag is only the ship hull. Nobody wants it because no one wants to pay the fee to activate it. ROCN took it because Arleigh Burke is not granted. The $732 million contract contains full NTU upgrade, renovation, crew training plus half load of SM-2MR missiles for all four ships. They also bought a warehouse of spare parts knowing that these are gonna be expensive very soon.

 

Russians don't sell weapons systems to Taiwan.

Because parts are cheaper and easier to acquire through FMS channel. Basically, ROCAF buys through USDOD, who package orders to contractors, say, Lockheed Martin. In the case of Mirage, they have to deal with Dassault directly, who then subcontract to SNECMA for engine reparation. Then French government have to give the final nod for the purchase.

 

The other matter has to do with training of ground crew. The first batch were sent to France and studied direct from AdA, Dassault and SNECMA. The later batch were taught indigenously and may get something wrong, since they usually are very bad in English, not to mention French.

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KAI claims that they are negotiating T-50 sales to Taiwan.

 

Maybe Taiwan would attempt to convert these to F/A-50 standard via upgrade kit once they arrive in Taiwan to circumvent Chinese protest?

As I recall, the AT-3 is starting to get long in the tooth, so the T-50 wouldn't be a bad choice.  However, it would be no replacement for the Mirage 2000.  You could convert the T-50 into an armed trainer similar to the Alpha Jet, but not an interceptor.  If the Mirage 2000 goes, the competition is wide open for the F-16, the Super Hornet, the Rafale, or the Typhoon.  Like Yelli said, the Russians won't sell to Taiwan--not because they don't want to, but because the PRC would go ballistic.  The absolute last thing Russia needs or wants is an angry China.

 

Given Obama's predilection towards buddying up with oligarchies and dictators, Taiwan may or may not be waiting a long time for those F-16s or SHs.  The Rafale would be a good choice if they're looking for more multirole; the Typhoon as a pure fighter.