TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Budgets for seven new submarines will only be activated after tests are completed for the country’s first indigenous submarine, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said Saturday (July 6).

Harbor acceptance tests (HAT) for the vessel, known as the “Narwhal,” were still proceeding, and needed to be followed by sea acceptance tests (SAT), according to the minister. Only when all those tests were completed, could the budgets for the next submarines be accessed, per CNA.

Media reports said President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) had approved NT$284 billion (US$8.76 billion) to be spent during the next 15 years beginning in 2025. The submarines would be built in three phases, with three vessels in the first phase followed by two each during the next two periods.

Meeting reporters on Saturday, Koo said that whatever plans had been drawn up, the harbor and sea tests on the first made-in-Taiwan submarine needed to be completed before budgets for later vessels could be used.

The Narwhal, built by CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, is scheduled to be commissioned into the Navy in November 2025 if all tests are completed.