Taiwan's purchase of eight diesel-electric powered submarines, which has yet to be arranged by the US, could lead to the revitalization of that country's diesel-powered submarine industry, according to a US defense magazine.
Defense News, a weekly journal on international military issues, reported in its June 11 edition that US President George W. Bush's decision to sell Taiwan the submarines "opens the door" for the design of a new submarine if other established designs are not licensed for construction.
The report quoted Stuart Slade, a naval analyst with Forecast International, a Connecticut-based defense consulting firm, as saying the "Taiwanese [will] bankroll the formation of a new US industry -- a conventional submarine-building capability -- that it hasn't had for 40 years."
Even though US naval yards have not built diesel-powered submarines since the 1950s -- the country has operated just nuclear-powered submarines since 1990 -- the US promised Taiwan in April to arrange for the construction of the vessels.
But there is still no indication that construction of the submarines would be contracted out to US firms. Indeed, most reports have said that leading submarine makers in Germany and the Netherlands were the prime candidates.
But leading submarine makers Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have said they wouldn't take any part in the construction of the eight submarines in line with the "one China" policy those countries adhere to.
In 1981, the Netherlands sold Taiwan two diesel Zwaardvis, or Swordfish submarines. In reaction to the sale China severed ties with that country until 1984.
As for Taiwan's own debt-ridden China Shipbuilding Corp, the company's chairman has expressed the company's willingness to vie for the project, which isn't surprising considering it had chalked up NT$1.08 billion in losses by the end of April.
But with no experience in building submarines, China Shipbuilding would need significant technical assistance to complete the project.
As yet there has been no indication as to whether French submarine maker DCN International Direction des Constructions Navales, which has made Agosta and Scorpene-class submarines for both Pakistan and Chile, is interested in the deal. France in the early 1990s ignored China's protests by selling Taiwan four Lafayette-class frigates, becoming the only major power besides the US to sell Taiwan major military platforms in recent history.
Another prime contender is Mississippi-based Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, which is currently part of a European team set to build two Dutch Moray-class conventional submarines for the Egyptian navy.
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