The Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” Taiwan’s first indigenous defense submarine, is undergoing harbor acceptance tests and is expected to begin sea acceptance tests late next month at the earliest, a military source said.
Production of Hai Kun-class hulls would be done in batches of three, two and three, the source said, adding that the nation’s two Chien Lun-class submarines would remain in service after being upgraded.
This would give the navy a fleet of 10 attack submarines, which would be a “potent deterrence force against the growing threat of the [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army Navy’s submarines and surface vessels,” the source said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via EPA-EFE
The Hai Kun is armed with 18 MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology (AT) heavyweight torpedoes and has the capability to launch other kinds of missiles, with foreign-manufactured weapons being the most likely choice, they said.
Building the rest of the fleet and acquiring missiles are to be carried out concurrently with funds that are to be allocated, they said.
The US-made MK-48 torpedoes are a significant improvement over Taiwan’s aging SUT 264 torpedoes, having greater range, speed, and guidance and noise reduction capabilities, in addition to being readily available as a frontline weapon still in mass production, the source said.
Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that eight new vessels should be the bare minimum, as the ideal fleet size is double that number.
Navies typically deploy one submarine for every two in reserve, of which one is for training while the other is maintained and repaired, Su said.
This means that three subs would be active at a time, which is the minimum required for a suitable defense, he said, adding that six would meet strategic requirements more fully.
The Democratic Progressive Party government should be able to secure defense funding without a legislative majority, as Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — whose party won a decisive minority in the new legislature — has professed support for spending 3 percent of the nation’s GDP on the military, Su said.
The Hai Kun’s launch showed that Taiwan can meet most of the requirements to produce submarines, although some key technologies were obtained from foreign partners, said Ko Yung-sen (柯永森), an institute fellow who is a retired army major general.
Building eight Hai Kun-class attack submarines is necessary to give the navy the capability to conduct simultaneous single-vessel patrols in the Miyako Strait and waters southwest of Taiwan proper, he said.
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