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| Hai Lung class Submarine (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By James R. Holmes
There is good strategic logic to Taiwan’s decision to build diesel subs. Execution is a different story.
So let’s have one, or maybe two, hearty huzzah!s for last week’s announcement that the United States will help Taiwan construct a fleet of diesel submarines. The Taiwan Navy can integrate these denizens of the shallows into a people’s-war-at-sea strategy that’s sure to give any invading force fits. Inventively deployed alongside shore-based anti-ship missiles and fleet-of-foot surface craft like the navy’s new Hsun Hai and Kuang Hua VI missile boats, subs can add that (mostly) missing undersea dimension to Taipei’s offshore defense. Up, down, and out! as U.S. Navy surface-ship mariners used to say. Gee … I wonder why no one thought of this before?
The concept, then, merits a cheer. Its execution, not so much. The reality is that putting the concept into effect will take a long time and demand a wrenching cultural change within the Taiwan Navy. The hour is late to get started with an enterprise of this scope and ambition.
Read the full story at The Diplomat