If the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, when the conventional armed forces of Taiwan Province could still have some advantages over the mainland in some aspects (the comprehensive strength of the mainland's navy and air force at that time was not necessarily as strong as that of Taiwan Province), then now the armed forces of Taiwan Province can only be crushed against the People's Liberation Army. Nowadays, the gap in military strength between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is getting bigger and bigger, and the mainland's complete military industry, education and research system allows the PLA to continuously iterate and upgrade equipment, while Taiwan Province can only resist with its own antique equipment. A distinctive example is the "Yanghu" tank that the Taiwan Army has not changed for many years, the "Keelung-class destroyer that the Taiwan Navy is still in service, etc. The oldest equipment is the "Sea Lion" submarine . It was originally a submarine in the late stage of World War II . It was put into service as early as March 1945. It was handed over to the Taiwan Provincial puppet Navy in 1973, and then it has played the role of the main force until today.
(Keelung-class destroyer in Taiwan Province)
Today's military industrial system can only carry out some piecemeal research and development in a few small fields, such as anti-ship missile and small speedboats. As for large-scale equipment with very high integration, they have no ability to independently develop them. However, the DPP authorities are very eager to make breakthroughs in this field. As early as July 2016, the Taiwan Provincial authorities announced the so-called "prospects for the reorganization of Taiwan's troops and the self-built warship in the next 15 years", claiming that they will invest up to NT$500 billion in the future to support the construction of submarines by themselves.
(the main submarine "Sea Lion" of Taiwan Province)
In July 2018, the so-called "self-built submarine" project in Taiwan began to evaluate the design plan. Two American companies, two European companies, a Japanese company and an Indian company provided design solutions. Tsai Ing-wen also said with confidence that "Taiwanese submarines cannot wait any longer and cannot rely on 'foreign countries'." Facts have proved that the Taiwanese provincial authorities have a deep misunderstanding about the so-called self-built submarines. They seem to want to follow the old path of Indian military industry and accumulate a "most expensive miscellaneous brand assembled submarine in the world (the words of netizens on the island)".
(Evaluation from netizens on the island)
According to Global Network citing the latest report from Reuters , a source revealed that manufacturers and relevant personnel from seven countries led by the United States and Britain (US, Britain, Australia, South Korea, India, West and West Canada) were "secretly" helping the DPP authorities build their own submarines. These Western countries are very concerned, and they produce both technology and talents. Among them, the British jumped the most. Ian McGee, the retired Brigadier General of the Royal Navy submarine force, seemed to play the role of a "pimp". This person recruited so-called technical experts everywhere to participate in the project. Just helping a company located in Gibraltar hired a lot of "professionals", including even former British Navy crew.
(Taiwan’s so-called “self-built submarine” model)
So is the so-called manufacturing submarines in Taiwan Province promising? The answer is probably no. If the design work can be solved through companies such as the United Kingdom and the United States, Taiwan Province will not be able to overcome this hurdle. First of all, the special steel used for the manufacture of submarine shells and processing-related equipment is a big problem for Taiwan Province. Secondly, the submarine's power system, especially the research and development of air propulsion devices (AIP), cannot be solved overnight (Maozi's submarine technology is so strong that it has not been developed yet).
(Horse-in-submarine is also one of its escape methods)
Although Britain and the United States are likely to provide core combat command systems, sonar systems and even weapon systems (such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles and MK-48 533mm heavy torpedoes, etc.), it is quite difficult to integrate parts. You should know that although Indian military industry often becomes a joke, at least in terms of submarine construction experience, Taiwan Province and India are not the same order of magnitude at all, the latter is much stronger.
(With France provided technology, a conventional submarine built in India)
The United Kingdom and the United States "helped" to build submarines in Taiwan, most likely they have only one ultimate goal, that is, to see that Taiwan Province is getting closer and closer to being completely unified and want to make a big profit before Taiwan is liberated, otherwise they will not make any money in the future. In fact, Taiwan Province has done such high-intensity money delivery, and has spent money to buy a lot of junk every time. Some green camp mouthpiece media boasted about it again, as if they really had the strength to compete with the mainland. In fact, they were just a clown!
