Shipbuilder CSBC Corp has missed the deadline for completing the first domestically-made submarine, the defence minister said.
The vessel is part of a submarine programme launched in 2016 that aims to deliver a fleet of eight vessels, but opposition lawmakers have criticised the repeated delays in the project.
Sea trials of the submarine began in June, nearly two years after it was first unveiled.
The original target was to wrap up testing by Sept 30 and deliver the submarine by the end of November.
“All the sea trials were supposed to be completed by the end of November, but in fact that is no longer achievable,” Defence Minister Wellington Koo told lawmakers.
Koo admitted in October that the original timeline for construction had been unrealistic.
The submarine measures 80m in length, has a displacement of about 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes, and boasts combat systems and torpedoes sourced from the US.
Taiwan’s navy currently has two working submarines, Swordfish-class vessels bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s. — AFP
