Taiwan Completes First Sea Trial Of Domestically Made Submarines

The launch of the Taiwanese submarine Hai Kun Class. (Source: Wang Yu Ching/Office of the President)

JAKARTA - Taiwan completed its first sea test for a domestically developed submarine on Tuesday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening the prevention of China's navy and protecting vital sea lanes in the event of war.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the domestic submarine program an important part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces, as Beijing conducts military exercises almost every day to assert its sovereignty.

The submarine program has utilized expertise and technology from several countries, including the United States and Britain, a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing's territorial claims.

Taiwan's CSBC Corp., which led the construction of eight planned similar vessels, said in a statement the first ship, named Narwhal or Hai Kun, had completed its first test at sea, proving the system including propulsion, ventilation, and radar.

"CSBC will continue to make adjustments and improvements to the system based on testing results," he said in a statement, while showing images of submarines sailing over the water off the coast of Kaohsiung port in southern Taiwan.

Underwater trials will follow, with the depth gradually improved, the company added.

Narwhal was supposed to be sent to the navy last year, joining two existing submarines purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s, but the program was delayed.

Taiwan said it hoped to deploy at least two domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly complement the next model with missiles.

The first submarine, with a price tag of $49.36 billion, will use a fighter system by Lockheed Martin Corp, carrying a US-made Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo.

It is known that Taiwan's armed forces are far behind the Chinese armed forces, which have two operational aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines and are developing stealth fighter jets.

Taiwan is modernizing its military to be able to fight in "asymmetric warfare," using agile and mobile systems such as submarines, unmanned aircraft, and trucks mounted on trucks to fend off its much larger enemy, China.