By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan completed the maiden sea trial for its first domestically developed submarine on Tuesday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening deterrence against the Chinese navy and protecting vital sea lanes in the event of war.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine programme a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.
The submarine programme has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries, including the United States and Britain, a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims.
Taiwan’s CSBC Corp, which is leading construction of what is eventually planned to be eight submarines, said in a statement that the first ship, named the Narwhal, had completed its first test at sea, proving systems including propulsion, ventilation and radar.
“CSBC will continue to make adjustments and improvements to the systems based on the test results,” it said in a statement, showing pictures of the submarine sailing above water off the southern Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung.
Underwater tests will follow, with the depth gradually increased, the company added.
The Narwhal had been due to be delivered to the navy last year, joining two existing submarines purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s, but the programme has been hit with delays.
Taiwan has said it hopes to deploy at least two such domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles.
The first submarine, with a price tag of T$49.36 billion ($1.67 billion), will use a combat system by Lockheed Martin Corp and carry U.S.-made Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes.
Taiwan’s armed forces are dwarfed by those of China, which has two operational aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines and is developing stealth fighter jets.
Taiwan is modernisising its military to be able to fight “asymmetric warfare,” using mobile and agile systems like submarines, drones and truck-mounted missiles to fend off its much-larger adversary China.
($1 = 29.5280 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Mark Porter)
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