Taiwan’s home-built submarine program officially began construction in Kaohsiung on Tuesday (Nov. 24), after four years of planning and preparation. The prototype submarine is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2025. The project is intended to increase Taiwan’s defense autonomy against China’s growing hostility and threats, despite a military imbalance with mainland China.
President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan presided over the “submarine nation-building groundbreaking ceremony” at the Taiwan International Shipbuilding Corporation’s Kaohsiung yard on Tuesday. She pressed the start button and a plate bending machine bent the first steel plate into shape, symbolizing the official entry into the construction phase of the submarine’s self-build.
The submarine is an important piece of equipment for Taiwan’s navy to develop asymmetric warfare and deter enemy ships from circling the island, Tsai said Tuesday at the groundbreaking ceremony.
After Tsai Ing-wen was elected president of Taiwan in 2016, Beijing continued to pressure Taiwan militarily, economically, and diplomatically, and cross-strait relations deteriorated sharply due to her non-recognition of the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus. In addition, Beijing has been angered by the U.S. president’s administration’s increasing support for Taiwan, and frequent PLA flights and overflights of the strait’s centerline have become commonplace to warn Taiwan and the United States.
According to the public budget of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, the construction of the state-built prototype of the submarine is expected to cost $1.72 billion and be completed by 2025, with the earliest launch possible in the third quarter of 2024. The state-owned CSSC is expected to build a total of eight submarines.
The Taiwan Navy said Sunday (Nov. 22) that two pieces of equipment needed to build the submarines have been licensed by the United States and contracts have been signed with the U.S. companies that will build them.
The submarine is regarded as one of the asymmetric weapons that can play a strategic deterrent effect, especially the strategic defensive Taiwan has a home field advantage, in the face of possible invaders of Taiwan, the submarine can effectively extend the ground firepower, equivalent to the defense depth of the outward push, effective against the convoy of intruding ships, especially aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships and other high-value targets.
The submarine’s pioneer was a submarine explosive boat purchased from Italy in 1964, which was formed 56 years ago.
Taiwan currently has two submarines that were transferred to Taiwan by the United States in 1970, and two more that were acquired from the Netherlands in the late 1980s. Taiwan’s submarines are a far cry from the size of China’s fleet. China’s fleet has several ballistic missile submarines, even capable of launching nuclear weapons.
The United States originally agreed to sell Taiwan eight conventional diesel-electric submarines in 2001, but the sale did not materialize. China, on the other hand, has gradually built one of the world’s largest navies, with nuclear-powered submarines, aircraft carriers, and supersonic missiles, among other advanced armaments.
Taiwan has been seeking to build its own submarines for decades. After Tsai Ing-wen took office, she announced the “National Ship, National Boat”, a defense policy that has been questioned and criticized both locally and internationally for Taiwan’s self-developed and planned submarine construction. It was previously reported that Taiwan had negotiated with several countries to obtain submarine designs and patent licenses, but all were rejected. In addition, many have questioned the fact that Taiwan’s technology and equipment are woefully inadequate to allow it to build its own submarines.
The submarine’s construction is the beginning of a process that will crush the rumors with actual results, Tsai said Tuesday.
The submarine’s construction has been a major challenge for the U.S. Navy, which has been in the midst of a series of major breakdowns in the last two decades.
The submarine’s manufacturing technology is complex and costly, and it must be built step by step to ensure that it is not a waste. She worries that by rushing into the construction of the submarine, the public may have to take unknown risks.
The people involved in the national construction of the submarine include the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Navy’s construction supervisors, and technical advisors from many countries.
Recent Comments