The latest update from Taiwan says the island actually plans to reverse engineer the General Electric J85 small single-shaft turbojet engine so that it can develop a single-use power plant for its long-range cruise missile.
Sanjay Acharya [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons
The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) had actually wanted to buy new J85 engines to kick start research for a new cruise missile. After determining that it was unable to obtain new engines from General Electric, the institute decided to focus on using the J85 from the country’s F-5 aircraft.
It hopes to churn out a new power plant that is lighter and has smaller footprint. Since the engine will only be used once, the requirements are less stringent. It will also form the basis for the engine to power future unmanned aerial vehicles.