From logistical hurdles to budgetary issues and delivery delays, Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program — crucial to the island’s underwater defense capabilities — is facing greater challenges than initially anticipated, raising questions about the project’s future.
Originally set to be delivered to the navy last year, the handover of the first domestically built submarine prototype, the Hai Kun, or Narwhal in English, is now expected by June, as sea trials scheduled to have wrapped up last September continue.
CSBC Corp., which is leading construction of what is planned to be a fleet of eight Hai Kun-class diesel-electric attack submarines, only completed the first sea trial — a shallow-water submerged navigation test — in late January, several months behind schedule. Subsequent tests have included diving to increasingly greater depths as well as checks of sensors and other systems acquired from different countries. As of Tuesday, the vessel had completed its fifth submerged test.