Taiwan’s seven domestically built submarines based on the Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” prototype would be built in three batches of “two then three then two,” a source close to the military said yesterday.
The updated 2-3-2 production schedule would be different from the original proposal to build the seven vessels in a 3-2-2 sequence, an anonymous source familiar with the project said.
The decision to build two submarines instead of three in the first batch is because the military believes it might want to make improvements to the designs for the second and third batches of underwater vessels, the source said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The Ministry of National Defense’s proposal to build seven submarines from next year to 2038 at an estimated cost of NT$284 billion (US$8.90 billion) was approved by the Cabinet last month. The budget proposal still needs to clear the Legislative Yuan.
The 13-year plan is part of the nation’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program under which the Narwhal, Taiwan’s first domestically built submarine prototype, was developed.
The Narwhal was launched in Kaohsiung in September last year at a ceremony presided over by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The prototype began its harbor acceptance tests (HAT) one month later and has been undertaking the final stage of the HAT since Feb. 27.
After the HAT is completed, further sea acceptance tests would be scheduled.
The source would not give further details on the status of the Narwhal’s HAT, but said that the prototype submarine would be delivered to the navy on schedule in November next year.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS