TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation Chair Chen Jeng-horng (陳政宏) said on Friday that the closest comparison to the Narwhal submarine is Australia’s Collins-class sub.
During an appearance on DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) program “Highland 308,” Chen said it is difficult to compare it with other submarines. However, he said the Collins-class submarine is the closest reference, since both are new indigenous designs, per Liberty Times.
He noted that countries like Japan, Germany, the UK, and France have long-established submarine-building traditions. Meanwhile, nations such as Spain, South Korea, and Australia typically relied on technology transfer or mature foreign designs, according to Liberty Times.
Although Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab is helping with the Collins-class program, it is still a custom design tailored to Australia’s needs, he said.
Regarding the engineering behind the Narwhal, Chen said it is at an “above-average” level. The sub successfully fired exercise torpedoes during sea trials last month.
Chen said that if Taiwan needs to defend three to four defensive areas within its maritime borders, each area should have one or two subs, Liberty Times reported. However, due to operational realities, Chen said submarines are typically divided into three parts: 1/3 available for combat readiness, 1/3 used for training crews, and 1/3 undergoing maintenance and overhaul.
Because maintenance is complex and time-consuming, this limits availability, Chen said. Based on the aforementioned rule, if there are four defensive areas, Taiwan would need about 12 submarines in total to ensure sufficient coverage.
Under Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program, Taiwan plans to build eight submarines.
