Taiwan authorities recently admitted that the originally planned“November delivery plan” of the highly-anticipated homemade submarine“Hai Kun” had already been cancelled, and the Taiwan Navy also voluntarily announced the news on the 13th, first mentioned that the submarine still has two major projects not completed adjustment. However, the Taiwanese media said on the 14th that the“Hai Kun” has a series of experiences from launching to sea trials, proving that it is likely to have more shortcomings, taiwan’s Navy may be in the follow-up to the release of home-made submarine program worse news, in advance to the outside world“To prepare.”.
According to the information released by the Taiwan Navy, the sea trial procedure of“Hai Kun” is divided into three stages: floating test, shallow-water diving and deep-water diving. “Since June 17 this year, the submarine has completed three buoyancy tests and implemented a dynamic combination of power, navigation, communications, ship control, periscope and other systems at sea.” But since the“Haikun” returned from its third sea trial in early July, it has been in dry dock for nearly two months, so far has not gone to sea, the outside world talk about. The Taiwan Navy has said only that“Docking is for detailed adjustments such as watertight inspection of ship structures, performance correction of carrier equipment, and inspection of equipment below the combat system waterline.” At present, the combat system, main hydraulic pressure, submarine charge and drainage, sonar and other systems have been completed, but the main engine and power management system, integrated platform management system has not yet completed the adjustment, these two major projects need to be completed before the sea to conduct submarine tests.
Taiwan’s“United Daily” said on the 14th that in the past, the Taiwanese military had been very secretive even when it released basic information such as submarine sea trials procedures. Now, before Taiwan’s“Ministry of National Defense” has conducted a business report, the first step was to announce the progress of the homemade submarine. This was obviously not based on the public’s right to know, but on the discovery that the“Haikun” was a serious problem. If the previous“Secrecy” attitude continued, it was feared that Landslide dam would collapse, so the DPP authorities took early action by “Their own people”, partly to expose the problem, hoping to “Drain” it to avoid serious damage.
The report said that the Haikun’s mainframe and power management and integrated platform management systems have not yet been fully calibrated and can not be automatically charged when the mainframe is activated for navigation, “There are a lot of key messages hidden in the Taiwan Navy press release.”. For example, a submarine can use a diesel engine only when it is afloat or snorkeling; when it is deep underwater, it can only rely on batteries. As for Integrated Platform Management, it allows the crew to remotely operate and monitor the equipment distributed throughout the ship in the cockpit, which is a necessary condition for any modern ship. The report said that since these two systems are the most basic conditions for the operation of submarines, they should never have waited until the sea trial stage to carry out verification. The relevant functions should have been debugged during the“Shore test” stage of berthing at the docks earlier, then the sea trial can take place. “This confirms the rumor that the Hai Kun was only sailing with pure electricity or pure oil. However, the submarine has not been out to sea for three months, and there may be other problems beyond the public’s knowledge.”
Taiwan’s“China Times” revealed that several retired Taiwanese naval submarine academies all believed that the“Hai Kun” was quite a big problem, “Cramming six main engines into the small space of a submarine adds complexity to operation and maintenance, which is not found anywhere in the world,” the report said, “Hai Kun” before the ship may be used when the battery rather than the host, also not common sense. Usually the conventional submarine uses diesel engine when floating, inhale air, exhaust gas, on the one hand to charge the battery, on the other hand can be directly propelled. During this period, the diesel engine will generate a lot of waste heat and water vapor condensate, along with cooling water and exhaust, so the submarine bow or the middle of the hull will emit bubbles and spray. But when the haikun goes to sea, it does not have any of these features, so it is more likely to be propelled by batteries than by a mainframe.
As for the Integrated Platform Management System, Taiwan submarine experts believe that“Not all the equipment will be bought back into a ship, submarine is even more so.”. “Submarine integration involves the integration of the combat system and the platform system, and there is integration between the two systems. You Can’t buy equipment and then decide how to put it, but you can decide how to put it together before you buy it.”
Taiwan“Letter Media” website revealed that the“Sea Kun” more trouble. For example, the commercial communication system purchased in support of the submarine may be damaged due to great pressure when diving, and can only be placed in the explosion-proof box, while the submarine out to sea to close the explosion-proof box, only the temporary use of radio. But in combat conditions must remain silent, “Radio can not use either.”. In addition, the six-engine submarine is a commercial model and has been criticized as a “Scheherazade practice and disaster”, which will not only result in insufficient combat capability, but also complicated operation and maintenance, and the noise could be so loud that“Even the other side of the Atlantic can hear it”.
The report also mentioned that the Taiwanese authorities rushed to advance the construction of follow-up submarines, and there is talk of changing the design to two engines. Retired generals said that this will involve the whole ship’s center of gravity, piping configuration, including the pressure chamber, the overall configuration will be re-designed, equivalent to the construction of a new submarine prototype. (Wuyan)