Although the government’s budget proposal for next year includes funding to build new submarines, challenges remain before a second domestically developed submarine could be finished by 2027.
The Executive Yuan last week approved the Ministry of National Defense’s plan to spend NT$284 billion (US$8.89 billion) building seven advanced submarines from next year to 2038. Initial funding of about NT$2 billion would be listed in the ministry’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which it is this week to deliver to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) last month said that the submarine funding would be used only after the Hai Kun (海鯤, “Narwhal”), the nation’s first indigenous defense prototype submarine, passes a sea acceptance test.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Retired navy admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), who oversaw the development of the Hai Kun, last year said he hoped that Taiwan would have at least three combat-ready submarines by next year and four by 2027.
Based on that timeline, the Hai Kun must by next year join the navy’s combat fleet, which includes two Chien Lung-class submarines, while a second domestically built submarine must be combat-ready by 2027.
The Kaohsiung-based CSBC Corp, Taiwan, which built the Hai Kun, has remodeled the apron and replenished machinery needed to build submarines. The construction of a second locally built submarine could begin once the funding and components are in place.
CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) last year told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that 861 of its employees in Kaohsiung work on the submarine projects, accounting for one-third of its workforce there.
Many shipbuilding engineers have been developed in the past six to seven years, he said.
To build the nation’s first prototype submarine, the company had to find multiple suppliers for crucial components in Europe and the US, including backup suppliers.
However, challenges remain ahead for the submarine-building project. Huang resigned in April as the convener of the program, citing health reasons, while Cheng resigned this month, and was succeeded by former National Cheng Kung University vice president Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘).
Another key figure in overseeing the project is Vice Admiral Shao Wei-yang (邵維揚), but he is to retire after he turns 65. Whether he would be allowed to postpone his retirement, or supervise the project in other official capacities, remains to be seen.
The budget for the 14-year submarine-building project, which is double that of the defense ministry’s military investment in one year, might face opposition in the legislature.
Although CSBC Corp, Taiwan has secured suppliers for components, and Taiwan also aims to raise the percentage of Taiwan-made components in the submarine program, the government must be prepared to tap into backup supplies given the rapidly changing geopolitical situation.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
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