According to information published by Hinet on January 3, 2022, the first Taiwanese Indigenous Defense submarine will be launched in September 2023.
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A model of the Taiwanese Indigenous Defense Submarine or IDS. (Picture source: ETtoday)
The Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) Program is a Taiwanese project to develop and construct a class of attack submarines domestically for the Republic of China Navy.
With its two effective submarines being of Dutch design manufactured in the late 1980s, Taiwan has been trying to acquire more modern submarines for over 20-years.
While Taiwan was actively seeking to purchase diesel-electric submarines from other nations, it started considering the possibility of building the required eight submarines indigenously, after repeated failures to strike an overseas deal.
A squadron of modern submarines would greatly improve the Navy's defensive capabilities. However, building submarines is a very daunting technological project.
On 15 April 2014, Defense Minister Yen Ming announced that the United States agreed to help Taiwan to construct its own diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs).
On 4 August 2016, China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSBC) formally established a submarine development center to consolidate and run the Indigenous Defense Submarine program.
According to the information available in open sources, we can estimate that the submarine will have a length of 70 meters and a displacement of 2,500 tons (2,500 long tons; 2,800 short tons).
She will be a diesel-electric submarine with Lithium Ion batteries and will be armed with MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology heavyweight torpedoes and UGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles.
