New imagery of Taiwan’s homegrown Huilong uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) — also known as the Smart Dragon — reveals more details of this intriguing craft, including what appears to be a pair of torpedo tubes, pointing to an expanded kinetic potential for the type. At this stage, it seems this relatively large drone submarine is intended as a testbed, rather than for an operational role, but its development does point to the growing ambitions of the Taiwanese Navy in terms of underwater warfare and the design, and certainly elements of it, could end up in a production form.
In recent days, imagery has appeared showing the Huilong both out of the water and undergoing at-sea trials.
Photos of the Huilong in a dry dock, still surrounded by scaffolding, provide a good view of the front end of the UUV, with the characteristic twin torpedo tubes at the front. Ahead of the apertures are yellow-painted cradles of the kind used to maneuver and load torpedoes and possibly torpedo-sized UUVs. A look at the rear end of the vessel, meanwhile, reveals an X-shaped rudder and tail fin arrangement, as well as a 5-bladed bladed propeller with raked tips.
Meanwhile, a video of the Huilong shows it being attended to by technicians under a floating shelter, just off the end of a pier, before the UUV is seen being towed out to sea behind a support vessel.
According to reports, Taiwan began work on the Huilong in 2020, with the project being run jointly by the state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) and Lungteh Shipbuilding, headquartered in Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan.
Estimated specifications for the UUV include a length of around 30 meters (98 feet), a width of height of around 3.6 meters (11.8 feet), and a height of around 6 meters (19.7 feet) including the conning tower. The Huilong is thought to have a displacement of approximately 100 tons.
The Huilong’s test role was reiterated in recent statements by the Taiwanese minister of defense. They said that the UUV is primarily meant for trials of sonar and underwater mines and apparently said that it doesn’t have its own propulsion system. Instead, during sea trials, it will be towed by a support vessel, the minister said. Bearing in mind the configuration of the Huilong, including propeller and tailplanes, the craft should at least have the potential to manuever under its own power, although this might only happen after initial towed trials and even then, towing it in and out of port will probably be necessary.
While there has been some speculation that the Huilong might also have an operational role, there’s so far no confirmation of this.
More likely, it seems that technologies will be proven using the Huilong and will be ported over to follow-on UUVs, which cold include a production version of the test submarine.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Huilong is intended to lead to a UUV that can be deployed from the backs of crewed submarines, although if this is possible due to its size is unclear. The design would seem to suggest it would be suitable for operating out of ports, as well.
Other reports suggest that the Huilong is designed to deploy smaller UUVs, suggesting that there are ultimately plans for drone submarines that can potentially launch both torpedoes as well as UUVs that could be used for surveillance, target acquisition, and perhaps also strike operations. Laying mines is also a likely mission set.
There are even conflicting accounts of whether the Huilong is a true UUV, or whether there is also provision made to carry some crew, with some reports suggesting the UUV has space for two to four people. Perhaps, a crew will be embarked in a test capacity, before moving to fully uncrewed operations.
While many questions about the Huilong remain unanswered, there’s meanwhile no doubt that Taiwan is investing in its underwater capabilities.
Earlier this year, TWZ reported about Taiwan’s first domestically made submarine, the Hai Kun, which entered the water for the first time in February, after being launched in September 2023.
The diesel-electric boat is the first of eight planned to provide a much-needed upgrade for Taiwan’s antiquated submarine force. While an initial assessment of the Hai Kun suggests an unusual combination of some fairly advanced features, it also potentially has a quality of finish that leaves something to be desired.
The fact that Taiwan has, for many years, struggled to acquire foreign-made submarines spurred the development of the Hai Kun. But as the submarine fleet of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) rapidly grows, the potential of UUVs to at least help address the imbalance is likely to make them an attractive option for Taiwan.
In the past, Taiwanese officials have boldly stated that its new crewed submarines will be a “strategic deterrent,” that could maintain a “lifeline” to the Pacific in times of crisis, such as a Chinese naval blockade.
That ambition seems less realistic when we take into account the fact that the PLAN submarine fleet numbers at least 60 boats, of all types, with the production of different designs and the development of new ones continuing at a rapid pace.
While Taiwan will never be able to challenge China in terms of submarine numbers, UUVs — especially ones that can operate alongside crewed submarines — could play a very useful role. The fact is not lost on Beijing, either, with the PLAN also increasingly exploring the potential of UUVs as well as uncrewed surface vessels (USVs).
Taiwan’s future submarine doctrine will be based around modern diesel-electric submarines that will likely exploit their advantages for ‘asymmetric’ warfare. This could involve setting ambushes for Chinese vessels. These same kinds of missions could potentially also be taken on by future UUVs, with torpedo-armed ones being especially suitable for ambushes. As well as launching torpedoes, the UUVs could also lay sea mines, a growing area of interest for the U.S. Navy, as well.
As well as operations around Taiwan, the country’s submarine fleet could also venture further afield, including into the so-called ‘first island chain,’ where it could disrupt PLAN activities in major chokepoints like the Bashi Channel and the Miyako Strait. Again, UUVs could be of particular value here, with their small size making them proficient for shallow-water operations.
At the same time, both UUVs and crewed submarines would be prime targets for the PLAN during a conflict, in which China’s growing anti-submarine warfare capabilities would be targeting these as a matter of priority. But flooding the battespace with drones of all types is increasingly seen as a potential decisive factor in a battle across the Taiwan Strait. UUVs are definitely going to be an increasingly critical part of this tactical equation.
Operational Taiwanese UUVs may still be some way off, but there’s no doubt that the country needs to urgently modernize and expand its submarine fleet. As you can read about here, this currently consists of two Hai Lung class boats, built in the Netherlands in the mid-1980s but subject to a mid-life upgrade that began in 2016.
There are also two veteran Hai Shih class boats, which were originally built as Tench class and Balao class submarines during World War II, but these are understood to no longer go to sea.
Faced with the threat of China’s fast-growing underwater armada, Taiwan’s interest in UUVs is understandable and it will be interesting to follow their development as it continues to upgrade its submarine force.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com