Taiwan launches first domestically built submarine

Taiwan unveils its first conventionally powered submarine this week, with a second expected by 2027. The vessel is called Narwhal and is the first in a new class of Taiwan-built submarines, which will consist of six vessels, the second expected to delivery in 2027.

The current president of the autonomous island, Tsai Ing-wen, launched in 2016 what was conceived as a program of eight vessels in addition to the two submarines built in the Netherlands in the 1980s and the two older Guppy-class submarines ex-US Navy built at the end of the Second World War. The president was present at the launch and gave a speech in which he extolled the potential of the vessel in the defense of the island state.

“If we can develop this combat capability, I don't think we will lose a war,” said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, Tsai's national security adviser, during “an internal briefing on the project,” as reported by Reuters .

Here is a video about the new ship:

The first of the new submarines will enter sea trials in October and is expected to be officially delivered to the Taiwanese navy by the end of 2024. The submarine was displayed for the first time in the southern port city of Kaohsiung.

“I can produce it. That's the key message,” Euan Graham, a China expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Breaking Defense. “And they did so against very strong political winds that appear to have affected the procurement of equipment. This is impressive.”

Building a submarine, one of the most advanced technological feats an armed force can engage in, has faced hurdles as many countries do not have formal diplomatic relations with the island entity. Obtaining export approvals, always a time-consuming challenge, was much more difficult than usual. Taiwan's efforts to obtain submarines from the United States had failed twice previously, during the administrations of George Bush and Barack Obama.

Taiwan's Huang noted that China's massive trading power and often bellicose reaction to anyone who helps Taiwan have always been in the background. According to Reuters, it said a foreign supplier withdrew from the program after work with Taiwan was disclosed at a Chinese embassy. He did not provide details.

Huang mentioned the “great help” provided by a team led by a retired British Royal Navy vice admiral, who obtained British export approvals through a Gibraltar-based company, according to Reuters.

Huang said in the briefing that the $1.54 billion submarine uses Lockheed Martin's combat system, which will also be used in Australia's Virginia-class and AUKUS-class submarines, and will be armed with Lockheed Martin's MK-48 torpedoes. agency. Seven countries have provided technology for Taiwanese submarines, much of it coming from the United States and probably the United Kingdom.

This makes it a vehicle which, although equipped with conventional propulsion, is at the level of the best attack vehicles in the world. The Taiwanese submarine program officially began in 2017 and is formally known as the Indigenous Defense Submarine Program. Its code name is Hai Chang, which means “Sea of ​​Prosperity” in Chinese.

Huang offered a reasonable justification for South Korea and Japan to help Taiwan with submarines. He said in his briefing that Taiwan's fleet of 12 submarines could force China to stay within the first island chain. Obviously the great adversary in this process will be Beijing.

The six new submarines could add U.S. anti-ship missiles to their arsenal, the admiral said, although he gave no further details. It could refer to Boeing's Harpoon missiles, which are launched through the launch tubes of a submarine. Taiwan already has the Harpoon, and the U.S. Navy awarded a $1.17 billion contract for Harpoon Block 2 missiles in April. Block 2 can be launched from air, sea and land platforms.