TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan must reshape its naval fleet around smaller ships capable of independent missions and coordinated attacks to increase its chances of repelling a Chinese invasion, defense analyst Holmes Liao and former US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair wrote in a Foreign Affairs article published Friday.
The authors said Ukraine’s Black Sea campaign against Russian forces beginning in 2022 showed that a weaker force can curb a stronger one without controlling the sea or possessing an equally powerful navy. Ukraine used land-based anti-ship cruise missiles, uncrewed surface vessels, aerial drones, and foreign intelligence to disrupt Russian naval operations in the Black Sea, they said.
Liao and Blair urged Taiwan to build stealthy corvettes weighing between 700 and 1,000 tons and armed with missiles and drones. Such vessels would be harder to detect while carrying enough firepower to strike Chinese ships in the Taiwan Strait, they said.
The authors criticized ships such as Taiwan’s planned light frigates, writing, “These large ships are impediments to the radical transformation of the Taiwanese navy that the Chinese threat requires.” Such vessels are too costly and vulnerable, they said.
They said ships such as the Navy’s Tuo Chiang-class corvettes are better suited to Taiwan’s defense. “Taiwan’s shipbuilding industry can rapidly produce these vessels, and the more it builds, the more efficient it will become,” they wrote. All 12 corvettes will be commissioned by the end of the year, the authors noted.
In addition to smaller ships, the military should upgrade its sensor network, communications, and weapons such as drones and missiles, Liao and Blair said. Taiwan’s latest defense budget and upcoming naval plans aim to improve the military’s ability to detect, track, and strike targets through maritime surveillance drones, improved command systems, and AI-assisted combat decisions, they said.
They added that a restructured naval fleet would complement Taiwan’s plans to build eight Narwhal submarines. The first submarine is undergoing sea trials. “Missiles and drones launched from corvettes can disable ships by hitting them above the surface, and torpedoes launched from submarines can sink them,” they wrote.
Taiwan should gradually retire its larger, older warships and focus its limited resources on building and maintaining smaller, more agile vessels, the authors said. However, they acknowledged that such a transformation would require top-down leadership.
“Moving away from familiar platforms will require political and military leaders to take risks and overcome the setbacks and criticism that accompany any institutional change,” they wrote.