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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS