The navy yesterday said that it has commissioned a Dutch company to assist in a program to upgrade its two submarines bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s, but stressed that the program is not related to one aimed at having Taiwan build its own submarines.
The statement was made in response to a report yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that RH Marine of the Netherlands had been commissioned to carry out system integration as part of the upgrade program for the two Chien Lung-class submarines.
“This will also be helpful for the program to build home-grown submarines,” the article said.
The navy confirmed in the statement that RH Marine is to assist in the integration of platform and electromechanical systems under the retrofit program for the two aging submarines, but it stressed that the Dutch company’s participation in the upgrade program “is unrelated to the domestic submarine program.”
The navy said CSBC Corp, Taiwan is responsible for the design of the vessels for the nation’s indigenous submarine program.
The program is being carried out according to schedule, it added.
CSBC Co and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in March signed a memorandum of understanding with the navy to jointly build submarines.
The memoradum divides the project into a design phase and a construction phase, CSBC said.
According to the schedule, the domestically built submarines are to be completed in eight years and should be formally commissioned into service within a decade, CSBC has said.
The navy has four submarines in its fleet: two bought from the US in the 1970s and the two from the Netherlands, bought in the 1980s.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS