Taiwan’s domestically built Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” submarine has the ability to carry MK-48 heavyweight torpedoes, which could pose a challenge for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, Business Insider reported on Tuesday.
The submarine, the first one built as part of the Indigenous Defense Submarine program, was unveiled last month and is to enter service next year after completing tests.
The vessel is “a major step forward in bulking up the [nation’s] naval combat capabilities,” the news Web site said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Being capable of carrying such a powerful torpedo is a “real eye-catching feature,” it said, adding that “Taiwan’s submarine represents a new challenge for China.”
The torpedo would give Taiwan “the ability to threaten China’s most powerful warships in a very direct way,” Tom Shugart, a former US Navy submarine commander who is now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, said in the report.
Calling it “probably the most capable torpedo in the world,” Shugart said that MK-48s “can strike with very little warning, and they’re deliberately designed to break ships in half.”
Taiwan purchased 46 MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology heavyweight torpedoes in April 2018, which sources said could be fast-tracked and delivered next year instead of 2028 as initially planned, Business Insider reported.
The new submarine itself is “a marked improvement” over submarines Taiwan already has, including two Dutch-made ones from the 1980s and two older ones formerly used by the US Navy, it said.
The new addition is not only an upgrade to Taiwan’s undersea naval warfare capacity, but also “a demonstration that the [nation] maintains a robust defense industry,” it said.
“Taiwan had to essentially do this using indigenous technology,” as foreign support to sell vessels or share technologies with Taiwan was largely obstructed by China, the report quoted former US Navy officer Bryan Clark as saying.
The new submarines are “not going to be the thing that makes the difference” in the event of a Chinese invasion, but could help deter smaller military actions or blockades, Clark said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denied that it passed classified material about the submarine program to the South Korean Mission in Taipei.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), who has been accused of leaking secret submarine design and construction plans from the program, has said that the ministry was involved in file transfers to the mission.
Former naval commander Huang Cheng-hui (黃征輝) previously said that the South Korean National Intelligence Service had obtained files from the program.
On Thursday last week, Ma wrote on Facebook that she sent voice recordings to the mission through contact information provided by the ministry.
In an interview with media personality Frances Huang (黃光芹) on Wednesday, Ma said that she contacted the mission through the ministry, which told her to send the files herself.
The ministry yesterday “solemnly” said that such an accusation was untrue, adding that Ma’s statements are “inconsistent, illogical and even contrary to common sense.”
If Ma continues to make false statements that might mislead the public into thinking it is involved in illegal actions, the ministry would take legal action to set the record straight and defend its reputation, it said.
Lieutenant General Shao Wei-yang (邵維揚), a counselor for the Ministry of National Defense, yesterday said that Ma had been speaking on her mobile phone during a meeting about the submarine program in 2019.
Prosecutors are looking into allegations against Ma.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei
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