Taiwan Commissions First Batch 2 Tuo Chiang Corvette — SkimNews
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- Taiwan Navy commissioned ROCS Tan Chiang (PGG-627) at Tsoying Naval Base on July 24, 2026, with President Lai Ching-te presiding over a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Wellington Koo, NSC Secretary-General Joseph Wu, and Navy Commander Admiral Chiang Cheng-Kuo.
- Tan Chiang is the eighth Tuo Chiang-class corvette and the first vessel of the second production sub-batch, which contains five ships with deliveries scheduled between March and December 2026; all 12 Tuo Chiang-class corvettes are to be commissioned by end-2026.
- Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense describes the corvettes as capable of peacetime patrols and escort duties, and wartime tasks including counter-blockade operations, offensive and defensive minelaying, and commanding missile boats.
- The second sub-batch is equipped with the Leonardo NA-30S Mk2 fire-control radar instead of the Thales STIR 1.2 EO Mk2 used on the first six hulls, after France refused to approve exports of Thales-manufactured radar systems to Taiwan, ending a supply chain Taiwan had relied on since the 1980s.
- Construction of the five second-sub-batch vessels began in 2024, with President Lai crediting domestic R&D, shipbuilding, and defence-supply-chain companies for overcoming unspecified challenges to bring the ships into service.
Why it matters: The radar switch from French Thales to Italian Leonardo on the Batch 2 hulls is a direct consequence of France refusing to approve Thales exports to Taiwan, meaning Taipei had to re-source a critical combat-system component mid-production. With all 12 Tuo Chiang-class corvettes slated for delivery by end-2026, Taiwan is doubling the size of a domestically built missile-corvette fleet designed for counter-blockade and offshore-island defence within the year.
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