Taiwan's navy has managed to keep its two vintage submarines operational during a long wait for eight conventional submarines guaranteed by the US, Jane's Defense Weekly says in a report to be published next week.
Taiwan's two Guppy II-class diesel electric submarines remain capable of combat despite their advanced age, senior Taiwanese naval officials told the weekly during a recent tour of the SS-791 Hai Shih (Sea Lion).
"Torpedo rooms forward and aft were operational and both carried test torpedoes," Jane's says in the report. Naval officials also confirmed the two boats posses mine-laying capabilities.
The boats are mainly used for anti-submarine warfare training and do not undertake combat patrols, the officials said.
Many analysts have argued that both submarines are relics of World War II technology and relatively ineffective for modern naval warfare.
The two Guppy submarines, the Hai Shih (ex-Cutlass) and SS-792 Hai Bao (ex-Tusk), were sold to Taiwan in 1973. However, both boats have special operations capabilities and could prove lethal against unsophisticated targets, such as troop transports. US President George W. Bush in April last year approved the sale of eight diesel-electric submarines as part of Washington's most comprehensive arms package to Taipei since 1992.
Yet the US has not built conventional submarines for more than 40 years and designing an entirely new one would be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the most likely solution would involve foreign participation, it says.
To clarify the situation, the US Navy set up a Team Diesel Submarine group last September, according to the weekly.
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