Budget for Domestic Mass Production of Submarines Should be Executed Step by Step
By Chieh Chung
The Storm Media, May 22, 2023
When to compile the budget for the next self-made submarines has become a contentious issue recently in Taiwan. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the Naval Command have publicly stated several times that the self-made submarine is scheduled to be launched in May 2024 in accordance with the planned schedule, and the tests will be completed by November 2025. Therefore, the budget for the follow-up production will not be listed in 2024. But the MND recently implied that it will compile “administrative budgets” for this project. When the Legislative Yuan deals with budgets that span multiple years, especially the military procurement budget, there is indeed a common practice that once the first year’s budget is passed, the subsequent years’ budgets will not be overturned. The administrative departments often use this practice, including just a very small portion of the total project budget in the first year to skillfully pass expensive or controversial projects. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is using this technique to reserve budgets before the prototype submarine was even fully tested.
The most puzzling thing is that, in the face of the turmoil, the Office of the President and the National Security Council never made their intentions clear.
In accordance with the rules, the central government’s budget for 2024 needs to be completed by the end of August this year. If the prototype submarine can really be completed in September this year, it is undeniable that the follow-up production plan was compiled before the prototype submarine passed the Harbor Acceptance Trials (HAT), i.e., before many design and construction variables were clarified. By doing this, the budget cannot be very presice, and the legislators will lack a reliable basis for review. More importantly, the test processes of the prototype of submarines are far more extensive and complex than surface warships. In addition, the domestically-made submarine is basically a new design to us. Although the shipbuilding team has overcome many obstacles, Taiwan lacks the complete technical output and guidance of major submarine manufacturing countries. The whole process should be lengthened rather than overly compressed to thoroughly find out any possible risks, to establish safe and qualified standards for subsequent submarines. In the next phase, many hidden problems may emerge one after another, and the submarines building team will need enough time to find solutions; if it involves equipment change, design revisions, construction, and retests, then they need a certain amount of time to adjust.
Under political considerations, however, the DPP administration intends to compile a budget for the next production of submarines before the prototype passes the harbor testing, even if there are only one or two submarines, the entire budget will be seriously distorted.
One of the reasons that the DPP holds is that if there is a ruling party change after the next general election, then the Kuomintang (KMT) administration would overturn the entire submarines self-production plan, so it is necessary to obtain authorization from the Legislature Yuan in advance. However, such accusations are completely far-fetched. The KMT has always been an important promoter of domestically-made submarines. It was former President Ma Ying-jeou who supported the National Submarine Manufacturing Program in 2014. The MND then allocated NT$140 million (about US$4.5 million) to conduct detailed research and investigations.
Under the efforts of the Ma administration, the United States has gradually changed from the original strong opposition to a “neither encourage nor oppose” attitude. After American opposition eased, the Ma administration completed the planning of self-production submarines in the latter half of 2015 and presented a budget of about 3 billion “contract design” to the Legislative Yuan. After the ruling party change in 2016, the DPP followed suit for the self-production of submarines plan. The insinuation that the KMT administration, if winning the next presidential election, will rescind the self-made submarine program is to trump up an excuse.
Self-made submarines can strengthen the defense capabilities of the military force, but the compilation of follow-up budgets for submarines should abide by the basic principles. Those who support the compilation of budgets for the follow-up submarines later this year ought to rein in at the brink of the precipice.