Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) today said that it would be "extremely challenging" for a local shipbuilder to meet next month's deadline for the delivery of an indigenous submarine prototype.
"We still have full confidence that the submarine will be successfully built, but the necessary tests and fine-tuning will take time," Koo told reporters when asked about the progress of the prototype, known as the Narwhal or Hai Kun (海鯤).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Pre-sea trial tests are now being conducted on the prototype, he said on the sidelines of a closed-door session of the legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, at which lawmakers were briefed on the latest developments in the Hai Kun project.
Given the early stages of the testing, it would be "extremely challenging" for the builder to deliver Taiwan's first indigenous submarine by next month's deadline, Koo said.
After the legislative session, the navy in a statement said that the prototype trials so far have consisted of three rounds at shallow depths only.
The navy also said it is working closely with the builder, CSBC Corp, Taiwan, on the submarine's power management system and its integrated platform management system.
The three stages of a submarine's sea trials are surface navigation, shallow-depth testing and gradual-depth increase testing.
In shallow-depth testing, the submarine submerges to a limited depth to test basic systems.
During gradual-depth increase tests, the submarine submerges further, testing systems under varying pressures and depths to ensure it would meet its combat requirements, CSBC said.
According to the timeline set earlier by the Ministry of National Defense, the Hai Kun's sea trials were scheduled to begin in April and be completed by Sept. 30 to meet a November delivery deadline.
Under the Indigenous Defense Submarine project, a second submarine is scheduled to be built by 2027.
The goal is to ensure that the navy has a total of four submarines by 2027.
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