Taiwan finished building all 66 of its home-grown Brave Eagle advanced trainer jets, a win for the island's push to make its own military aircraft.

• The last two jets rolled out of the AIDC plant in Taichung and were flown to the air force academy in Kaohsiung.
• AIDC chairman Tsao Chin-ping, a former deputy air force commander, flew one of them himself.
• The program started in 2017 and took just over three years from design to first flight, fast by global standards.
• More than 200 Taiwanese suppliers were pulled into the work, pushing over half the plane's parts to local production.
• The new jets replace aging F-5 and AT-3 trainers, simplifying pilot training and feeding pilots into Taiwan's F-16V fleet.

Outlook: Attention now shifts to Taiwan's next home-built defense projects, with the trainer line finished and pilot training fully switched over.