Taiwan is to draw on the experience of an ongoing program to upgrade two of its aging submarines to support a project to build its own submarines, an institute contracted to conduct the programs said yesterday.
Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology officials said in a report prepared for a legislative hearing yesterday that the institute has completed an evaluation of periscope upgrades for the two Chien Lung-class submarines and has begun reviewing a design to upgrade their weapons systems.
That experience will help support the Ministry of National Defense’s indigenous submarine project, the report said.
The report said the institute is discussing a design for the weapons systems of the planned homegrown submarines and other issues with shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan — the contractor for the nation’s indigenous submarine and the navy’s submarine programs.
A total of NT$2.9 billion (US$95.45 million) is to be budgeted from December last year to December 2020 for the design of the vessels, a ministry report to the legislature on the indigenous submarine and jet trainer programs showed.
Military officials said at yesterday’s hearing that the local submarine program aims to build eight vessels and will still need assistance and technologies from the US.
CSBC said the first indigenous submarine can be built in eight years and enter service with the navy in 10 years after its design is completed.
CSBC chairman Cheng Wen-lon (鄭文隆) said the company, after the completion of the first submarine, could produce one submarine every four years.
Late last month, CSBC and the institute signed a memorandum of understanding with the navy to jointly build submarines for the military.
The first homegrown submarines are to be built within eight years and would be able to be commissioned into service within a decade, the shipbuilder said.
As for the program to upgrade the two Chien Lung-class submarines Taiwan purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s, the institute said in its report that it would refer to the designs of weapons systems on other naval ships and enlist the help of foreign defense companies to extend the life of the aging submarines.
The program would also rely primarily on domestically manufactured components in an attempt to boost the nation’s defense industry, the report said.
Taiwan has long tried to acquire submarines from other nations with little success because of reluctance to upset China.
Then-US president George W. Bush in 2001 authorized the sale of eight diesel electric submarines to Taiwan, but the deal never came to fruition because of political wrangling in Taiwan and questions over whether the US, which did not produce conventional submarines at the time, could supply the vessels.
Taiwan has four submarines, including two World War II-era boats purchased from the US in the 1970s.
As for the indigenous advanced jet trainer program, designs for the aircraft’s exterior and interior have been completed and an initial review of the design of the aircraft is scheduled for next month, the institute’s report said.
The ministry has allocated a 12-year budget of NT$68.6 billion to build 66 jet trainers, with the first prototype scheduled to be completed by September 2019, the first trial flight to be conducted by June 2020 and the whole fleet of 66 airplanes to be delivered by 2026.
The trainer jet program is estimated to create up to NT$205.8 billion in private investment.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
The Han Kuang exercises, the nation’s major war games, are to start today and run for five days. The drills are to include a military aircraft emergency takeoff and landing exercise on a regular roadway on Wednesday, featuring all three fighter jet models in Taiwan’s fleet, a military source said last week. The drill is to begin at 6:30am on a 3km section of Provincial Highway No. 1 in Pingtung County’s Jiadong Township (佳冬), and feature an Indigenous Defense Fighter, an F-16V, a Mirage 2000-5 and an E-2K Hawkeye early warning aircraft, the source said. The emergency landing and takeoff drill aims to
MRNA VACCINE: Heart inflammation is rare, but possible after a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot, and students need to be aware of possible side effects, an expert said As Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations for students aged 12 to 17 are to begin on campuses on Thursday next week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday urged recipients to be especially watchful for five signs of possible myocarditis or pericarditis, which are rare adverse reactions to some COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices convener Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) joined the CECC’s daily news briefing to report on possible side effects after receiving a BioNTech vaccine. Lee said that cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been observed in people in the US who have received mRNA COVID-19
Taiwan on Friday accused China of seeking to use the Honduran election to “create controversy” and undermine Taiwan’s long-standing ties with the country, saying it would strive to win support for Honduras’ relations with Taipei. Honduras’ main left-wing opposition party, the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), led by ousted former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, has said that if it wins November’s presidential election it would seek to “readjust” the country’s debt and establish diplomatic relations with China. Honduras is one of 15 UN member countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has already warned Honduras not
WORKING TOGETHER: Masahisa Sato said that the Liberal Democratic Party is aiming to share ideas about Taiwan-related policies and improve ties with Taiwan Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly being threatened by China, and like-minded nations should work together to resist such threats, Japanese politicians said. Japanese House of Representatives members Keiji Furuya and Masahisa Sato made the comments in a video played on Friday at a conference held by the Taiwan Japan Academy in Taipei. Furuya praised President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration for its efforts in reinforcing exchanges with countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia through the New Southbound Policy. Taiwan also has interests in the Pacific Islands region, but they have come under threat from China in the past few years,
RSS