Cabinet greenlights building of 7 more Taiwanese submarines

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) The Executive Yuan said Thursday it has approved a Ministry of National Defense (MND) request for seven domestically built submarines based on the "Narwhal," or "Hai Kun" (海鯤號) prototype ceremonially launched in September 2023.

In a brief statement late Thursday afternoon, Cabinet spokesperson Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said that Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) had signed off on the MND's plan to build seven submarines from 2025 to 2038 at an estimated cost of NT$284 billion (US$8.88 billion).

The 13-year plan will be part of the Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) program under which the Narwhal prototype was developed.

At a news conference Thursday morning, the Cabinet unveiled the central government's NT$3.33 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025, including NT$647 billion for defense.

The 2025 budget proposal will be sent to the Legislature for approval at the end of the month, the Cabinet said.

The MND, which declined to provide details on the matter at the Cabinet's press event in the morning, said in a separate press release later in the day that the budgeted NT$647 billion would include NT$2 billion for the submarines.