With sea trials delayed for the Hai Kun (海鯤) indigenous submarine, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) today said that the builder would be fined NT$190,000 (US$6,216) each day that delivery is delayed according to the contract.
The Ministry of National Defense gave a report on progress of the Hai Kun at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Koo said that the prototype submarine, also called the Narwhal, has begun sea trials and expressed confidence that testing would proceed step by step to ensure its performance, safety and quality.
Photo courtesy of CSBC Corp, Taiwan
The submarine was originally scheduled for delivery next month, but Ku on Monday last week said “it would be extremely challenging” to meet that deadline, as testing and calibration would take time.
Koo today told reporters that all national defense policies and programs carried out by the ministry should be subject to legislative oversight.
The ministry gave a classified briefing last week, and would report information that can be made public to explain the situation without revealing any classified information, Koo said.
Commenting on the special resilience budget passed by the legislature on Friday last week, Koo said that the ministry would focus on maintaining combat readiness and strengthening information security resilience.
The ministry had originally allocated about NT$113 billion in the special budget to strengthening homeland defense capabilities and upgrading information and communication equipment.
However, after negotiations between ruling and opposition parties, about NT$5 billion was cut, leaving a budget of about NT$108 billion.
Koo said that the priority for homeland defense is rebuilding ammunition depots and stocking ammunition.
Another priority is training grounds, as these are crucial for providing troops with the intense training necessary to effectively enhance compact capability, Koo said.
Resilience and combat readiness stockpiles also need to be strengthened, he added.
Koo said that enhancing information and communication security resilience is beneficial for overall resilience, and efforts would focus on mobile backup capabilities.
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