Taipei: Taiwan’s first domestically built submarine is almost certain to miss the date that sea trials were scheduled to begin, with only one day remaining until the deadline. According to the timeline set by the Ministry of National Defense (MND), sea trials for the Narwhal, Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) prototype, were supposed to begin this month and be completed by Sept. 30.

According to Focus Taiwan, Navy Chief of Staff Chiu Chun-jung addressed the delay during an MND news conference, stating that the focus is on “improvements and final calibrations” to meet the necessary requirements for the sea trials. When pressed about the schedule, Chiu emphasized the importance of achieving the “technology readiness level required for the vessel to go out to sea.”

The MND has publicly reiterated several times that the sea trials would commence this month, despite reports of setbacks related to the Narwhal, also known as “Hai Kun” in Chinese. Earlier this year, the MND assured that harbor trials were on track and that sea trials would proceed in April, despite concerns about voltage surges from a land-based power supply affecting the submarine’s components.

The IDS program has encountered multiple delays since its inception. Notably, three days before the prototype’s unveiling in September 2023, Huang Shu-kuang, then convener of the program, announced that harbor acceptance tests would begin on Oct. 1, 2023. This was to be followed by a sea acceptance test, with an expected delivery to the Navy before the end of 2024. However, the delivery schedule was later postponed to November this year.

In September 2024, the MND admitted that the Narwhal had not passed more than 10 categories in the harbor trials. This led the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to scrutinize the submarine’s budget. In January, lawmakers from these parties voted to freeze NT$2 billion (US$61.91 million) of the proposed funding for fiscal year 2025, stipulating that the funds could only be released once the Narwhal successfully completed the sea trials.

Chiu also mentioned that the frozen funding would be released if the sea trials are completed on time and the MND provides a briefing to the legislature. Defense Minister Wellington Koo further stated that the submarine’s contractor, CSBC Corp, would incur a fine if it fails to deliver the submarine to the Navy by November, as stipulated in their contract.