"Taiwan's air force is small but prickly, you'd better not touch it or you'll hurt yourself," says Sherman Cheng. Taiwan's past air combat record, and ROC pilots 'recent success in beating advanced F-15 fighters with their F-5Es while on training abroad, have forged an impression among the international air force community that Taiwan's air force is skilled, capable and not to be underestimated.
「小，但長滿刺，不能亂碰，否則會被刺得滿身傷」，薛爾門說，從以往的空戰紀錄，到近年來我們飛行員在國外受訓時，常以 F-5E 打敗更先進的 F-15 戰機的表現，使國際對台灣空軍留下如此「精悍」、「不可忽視」的印象。