Taiwan's delayed light frigates clear engine logjam as second upgraded Kang Ding frigate nears delivery

The engines holding up Taiwan's two new light frigate prototypes are about to be tested and shipped, senior military officials said on Thursday, 8 October, easing a supply problem that has already pushed the programme back by a year, the Liberty Times reported.

According to the officials, builder Jong Shyn Shipbuilding has been told by its subcontractor that the main engines for both prototypes, one air defence ship and one anti-submarine ship, will shortly undergo factory acceptance tests at the overseas manufacturer. Once they pass, the engines will be sent to Taiwan by sea. The officials said all of the other equipment for the ships had already reached the yard on schedule.

Separately, military sources told the newspaper that the frigate Kang Ding, the second of six Kang Ding-class ships being modernised, is expected to be handed back to the navy before the end of the year.

Why the engines mattered

The engines have to be installed at the very bottom of the hull before the shipyard can stack and weld the hull blocks above them, so their late delivery stalled construction. The defence ministry signed the building contract with Jong Shyn on 12 May 2023, and the navy told the legislature in March that the subcontractor's engine delay meant both ships would slip from 2026 to 2027, with the overall project extended to 2028.

The navy now plans to keep staff at the yard to monitor progress and build quality, and the yard will begin block construction and hull joining as soon as the engines arrive, the Liberty Times said. The prototypes are meant to relieve the ageing Chi Yang and Cheng Kung-class frigates and pave the way for a planned 10 follow-on ships.

The two prototypes share a hull but carry different weapons. The air defence version will carry 32 cells of the locally made Hua Yang vertical launch system, loaded with Sea Sword II air defence missiles, along with eight Hsiung Feng III supersonic anti-ship missiles. The anti-submarine version has no vertical launchers but carries two triple torpedo tubes, a towed sonar and 16 anti-ship missiles in a mix of Hsiung Feng II and III.

Both ships will have a 76 mm gun forward, a Phalanx close-in weapon system aft and 20 mm remote weapon stations on each side, with a British Type 997 three-dimensional search radar and Lockheed Martin's CMS-330 combat management system. The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is the combat system integrator.

Kang Ding upgrade schedule

The defence ministry is spending about NT$43.16 billion to modernise the six Kang Ding-class frigates, which Taiwan bought from France as La Fayette-class ships, in a programme run by the institute with France's Naval Group. The first upgraded ship, Cheng De, was handed over earlier this year and completed a live-fire test at sea in June.

Kang Ding has finished its structural conversion at the CSBC yard and is now having its new radar and combat systems installed and integrated, with harbour and sea trials to follow before delivery, the sources said. Taiwan News reported in August that the ship had already been fitted with the Hua Yang launchers.

The upgrade replaces the ships' old Sea Chaparral missiles with Sea Sword II missiles in a 32-cell Hua Yang launcher, extending their air defence range to more than 30 km, and adds the French SETIS combat management system, a British Artisan 3D active phased array radar and a new French towed sonar.

The remaining four ships are to be upgraded at a rate of one a year from 2027, with all six finished by the end of 2030. To avoid gaps, the navy and the institute will begin hull surveys and advance procurement of materials for the third ship before Kang Ding is delivered, the sources said.