Taipei [Taiwan], February 26 : Taiwan will begin sea acceptance testing (SAT) of its first locally built submarine prototype named Hai Kun or Narwhal in April this year as per schedule Taiwan News has reported.
The local news outlet cited military spokesperson Sun Li-fang as rejecting claims that the country's first indigenously built submarine was facing problems with power supply that caused harbour acceptance tests to run behind schedule.
Taiwan's domestic submarine is aimed at bolstering undersea combat capabilities of the island amidst Chinese military pressure and escalating tensions with Beijing. China continues its aggressive military activities near Taiwan with fighter jets and navy vessels patrolling and conducting drills.
Military spokesperson Sun said the batteries on the submarine were installed without glitches, and the Navy had assured him that the project would move to the next phase of tests in April.
In January this year, Opposition lawmakers passed a motion to freeze half of the funding total NT$2 billion (USD 61.01 million) budget, proposed for 2025 to continue work to build a fleet of indigenous defence submarines (IDS) until an IDS prototype passes a required sea acceptance test (SAT) this year.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen had announced the plan to construct a fleet of eight subs in 2016. The Hai kun meaning "mythical sea creature" was unveiled in September 2023 into the harbour of Kaohsiung, Taiwan's southern port city. The submarine's English name is "Narwhal," after a single-tusked whale that National Geographic includes on its list of the world's weirdest creatures, a report in the Voice of America explained.
The Taiwanese government had approved plans for building seven indigenous submarines from 2025 to 2038 at an estimated cost of NT$284 billion, Focus Taiwan said.
As per an analysis by AlJazeera, Taiwan's submarines could keep China's navy from encircling and cutting the island off from outside resources, a move China would be expected to make if it were to attack or invade the island.
The news outlet further cited the Taiwanese government as saying that submarines could keep China from bypassing the First Island Chain, an imaginary line of defence connecting Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The electric-diesel vessl has been built by shipbuilding CSBC Corporation, which was awarded the contract to build the submarine after Taiwan failed to secure a foreign supplier due to pressure from China.
The Narwhal is scheduled to be commissioned into the Navy in November 2025.