Legislators yesterday said they would support the budget to buy eight diesel-powered submarines if the subs were equipped with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems, which enables a vessel to be submerged under water for longer periods of time.
"What Taiwan needs is a really advanced submarine force, not an outdated one. I think a submarine force with the AIP system would be an advanced force," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民).
Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) said at the legislature on Thursday that the ministry currently has no plan to include AIP systems in the submarine deal because they are not a "mature technology," and because it would be a heavy financial burden on the navy.
However, Lee said, "the US and the ministry will select contractors and the type of submarines only after Taiwan approves the purchase, and the ministry has not ruled out the possibility of equipping the subs with AIP systems."
Chief of Navy Lee Hai-tung (李海東) yesterday said that, with an AIP system, a submarine could submerge for two weeks or longer without having to surface. In contrast, he said, a diesel-electric submarine without an AIP system must surface every four to seven days.
Subs must eventually surface to replenish their air supply and recharge their batteries.
KMT Legislators Shuai and Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) said a diesel submarine without an AIP system must surface and thus reveal its position every 4 to 5 days, and such a submarines have limited combat capabilities.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
As a result, the AIP system should not be seen as a cutting-edge technology, but he will nonetheless urge the ministry to obtain it, Lee said.
Chang Li-teh (張立德), a senior editor with the Chinese-language Defense Technology Monthly magazine, said if a Taiwanese sub force wants to have a strategic edge against China in defending territorial waters and for reconnaissance missions, it would be better to have a submarine force with the AIP system.
Chang also said the reality is that it would take conventional diesel-powered submarines three to four days to travel from Taiwan to the South China or East China Seas, and then they would need to surface. He also said that it is very easy for diesel submarines to be detected and attacked when they surface because the process is very noisy.
COLLABORATION: As TSMC is building an advanced wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, it needs to build a comprehensive supply chain in Europe, Joseph Wu said Taiwan is planning to team up with the Czech Republic to build a semiconductor cluster in the European country, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Friday. Wu, who led a Taiwanese delegation at the annual GLOBSEC Forum held in Prague from Friday to today, said in a news conference that Taiwan seeks to foster cooperation between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and its counterparts in Czechia. Such cooperation is expected to transform the country into one of the most important semiconductor clusters in Europe over the next three to five years, he added. As TSMC is building an advanced
A joint declaration by Pacific leaders was reissued yesterday morning with mentions of Taiwan removed after China slammed an earlier version as a “mistake” that “must be corrected.” After five days of talks in Tonga, a “cleared” communique was released on Friday that reaffirmed a 30-year-old agreement allowing Taiwan to take part in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). However, the wording immediately raised the ire of Chinese diplomats, who piled pressure on Pacific leaders to amend the document. The forum reissued the communique without explanation yesterday morning, conspicuously deleting the paragraph concerning the bloc’s “relations with Taiwan.” “It must be a
A tropical depression in waters east of the Philippines could develop into a tropical storm as soon as today and bring rainfall as it approaches, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, while issuing heat warnings for 14 cities and counties. Weather model simulations show that there are still considerable differences in the path that the tropical depression is projected to take. It might pass through the Bashi Channel to the South China Sea or turn northeast and move toward the sea south of Japan, CWA forecaster Yeh Chih-chun (葉致均) said, adding that the uncertainty of its movement is still high,
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
RSS