Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles, to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous sub program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost dailyPresident Tsai Ing-wen, who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries - a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan.
Huang said the first submarine, with a price tag of T$49.36 billion , will use a combat system by Lockheed Martin Corp He called the submarines a "strategic deterrent" to Chinese warships crossing the Miyako Strait near southwestern Japan or the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines.
Huang said the submarines can help maintain the island's "lifeline" to the Pacific by keeping ports along Taiwan's eastern coast open for supplies in a conflict.Chieh Chung, a military researcher at Taiwan's National Policy Foundation think tank, said the fleet would have trouble with that task, because China could position warships in the Pacific before launching an attack.
"For those foreign generals who agreed with my ideas, they helped convey the message to their governments or arrange meetings," he said. "I told them our needs and that's how we achieved our purpose of securing export permits." A foreign supplier had also pull out at the last minute after the work with Taiwan was leaked to a Chinese embassy, he said, without elaborating.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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