TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The first of Taiwan’s fleet of six Kang Ding-class frigates is set to undergo upgrades to its combat systems at the end of February, the Ministry of Defense (MND) announced.

Upgrades for the ship, Si Ning, are expected to be completed by 2025. The MND inked the modernization deal for all nine ships with DCI-DESCO in April 2020 for a total of NT$43 billion (US$1.4 billion), Liberty Times reported.

DCI-DESCO is a subsidiary of DCI Group, which is an affiliate company of the French Ministry for the Armed Forces responsible for the transfer of technology to France's partner countries.

The French-built frigates have been in service in the Taiwan Navy for 26 years. The upgrades will replace all the aging combat systems, radars, and anti-aircraft missiles with modern ones.

Evaluation and verification of Si Ning's new systems will take three years, per Liberty Times. Once the process is done, the five other ships will undergo upgrades.

The entire endeavor will be carried out in batches over nine years and is expected to be completed by 2030.