Taiwan confirms the commissioning of three Tuo Chiang-class Corvettes.

The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a Taiwanese-designed class of fast and stealthy multi-mission corvettes built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy.

Flight II Tuo Chiang-class Corvette (Picture source: Twitter account: Guy Plopsky)

Domestic shipbuilders will build three Tuo Chiang-class missile corvettes and four fast minelaying ships by 2021. It will be the first phase of a program to mass-produce a world-class naval fleet at local shipyards. The program was announced by the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense (MND) on 12 April 2010. It was developed by the Naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung. The Tuo Chiang class was developed to address common weakness of traditional small warships such as patrol craft and corvettes namely poor sea-keeping, a significant handicap for warships expected to sortie for extended periods of time in rough seas around Taiwan.

The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a Taiwanese-designed class of fast and stealthy multi-mission corvettes built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. It is designed to counter the numerous and increasingly sophisticated People's Liberation Army Navy ships by utilizing hit-and-run tactics, and thus featured clean upper structure design with very few extrusions to reduce radar signature, pre-cooled engine exhaust to reduce infrared signature, and a reduced visual signature to reduce chance of detection. The new Tuo-chiang will enhance the Navy’s stealth capabilities and weapons systems. They will be equipped with the Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles, which are dubbed the “aircraft carrier killers.” The project will also add four fast minelayers to upgrade the Navy’s fleet.

The ship is a catamaran design which is 198 ft long, 46 ft wide and carries a crew of 41 personnel. It is capable of a maximum speed of 40 knots and a range of 2,000 nautical miles. It is armed with eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles launchers, a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, and a 3 in main gun. The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft high. Taiwan Security Analysis Center (TAISAC) stated that the ship features stealth technologies to help evade radar detection, a combat system that includes a distributed-architecture combat direction system known as “Taiwan Aegis" developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology and an indigenous search/track and fire-control radar and electro-optical director.