Taiwan starts building submarine fleet amid military threats from Beijing
- Domestically developed vessels will have US combat systems, with the first to be delivered to the navy by 2025
- President Tsai Ing-wen says it’s a ‘milestone’ for the defence industry and shows Taipei’s determination to safeguard sovereignty
President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday officiated at an inauguration ceremony for the submarine – the first of eight – which is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2024, with sea trials scheduled for 2025, according to the shipbuilder.
It will be armed with MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology heavyweight torpedoes, UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles, and other combat and digital sonar systems provided by US suppliers Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Taiwanese naval officials said.
“According to the contract … construction of the prototype submarine will take 78 months … and delivery of the sub to the navy will be made by 2025,” said Cheng Wen-lon, chairman of Taiwanese firm CSBC Shipbuilding, during the ceremony in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
The shipbuilder was awarded the NT$49.5 billion (US$1.7 billion) contract to build a prototype submarine after Taiwan was unable to find a foreign supplier. Beijing has warned other countries against selling arms to Taiwan, which it considers to be part of its territory to be brought back under mainland control – by force if necessary.
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Tsai described the development as a “milestone” for Taiwan’s defence industry.
“Despite all the odds, we are officially rolling out a made-in-Taiwan submarine beginning today,” she said.
The programme would show that Taiwan had the capacity to build its own submarines and it demonstrated the government’s determination to consolidate its defences and safeguard its sovereignty, Tsai said.
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Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taiwan since Tsai took office in 2016 and refused to accept the one-China principle, suspending official exchanges with the island, poaching its diplomatic allies and increasing military intimidation.
Tsai’s spokesman Xavier Chang last week said the submarine programme was a key part of the president’s military modernisation and self-sufficiency plan.
CSBC began work on a shipbuilding hall in Kaohsiung in May last year, which it said could accommodate three submarines at a time.
The vessel will have an X-shaped stern resembling Japan’s diesel-electric Soryu-class attack submarine, according to a model on display at the ceremony.
Taiwan plans to replace its existing fleet of four submarines – including two that date back to World War II and two from the 1980s – with the eight new ones.
“Armed with heavyweight torpedoes and underwater-launched missiles, they will be able to be deployed at key ambush areas to strike PLA warships in the event of attack,” Chieh said.
He said once the Taiwanese submarines, with anti-sonar devices, were in place it would be difficult for PLA vessels to detect them, and they could also be deployed to areas close to the mainland coast.
