Ahh you're absolutely right @Musashi_kenshin ! Although I did some digging and the underlying causes look to be more complex than just pragmatic wisdom.
https://focustaiwan.tw/cross-strait/202210120010
Overhauled frigate project unveiled - Taipei Times
Taiwan's New Domestic Frigate Project Hits Roadblock - Naval News
Taiwan Navy to equip light frigates with extended-range anti-ship missiles | Taiwan News | 2022-11-02 15:33:00
The navalnews article is most enlightening. It reports "Taiwanese media are reporting that the frigate project is not going smoothly because NCSIST has not been able to develop a compact AESA radar system for the ship" indicating that they're having some trouble with the development of high end radars for the ships.
They also quote "Dr. Hsiao-Huang Shu (舒孝煌), a research fellow at the Defense Ministry’s think tank, told LTN that large surface combatants with stronger sustainability and air surveillance capabilities are still necessary for monitoring the actions of Chinese ships, respond to Chinese gray zone conflict methods, secure sea lines of communication, dominate the sea, and exercise air superiority in the Bashi Channel and offshore eastern Taiwan. " This says to me that they still have an operational need for bigger ships .
However, the Taipei times article states " Dispatching naval vessels to monitor intruding Chinese ships has been taking a toll on the nation’s aging fleet, the ministry said, giving as an example a 50-year-old refitted Knox-class frigate, ". Well the Knox-class ships are very old, practically obsolete and should be getting very long in the tooth by now. I bet those old turbines are a pain to keep in service, and very expensive of course.
But finally the Taiwannews article refers to Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo: "according to the Navy official. While the Chinese ships had between 70 and 180 crew members each, Taiwan’s Navy vessels have between 200 to 300 naval staff each, revealing a considerable difference in cost, Chiang said. " And then it suddenly made a lot of sense to me! Like many others the ROC military has problems with personnel and recruitment numbers and older ships need a lot more crew than newer ones, especially American ones.
The way I see it is as follows, they where having trouble getting radars for their frigate program that was intended to replace their Kidd-class destroyers and that was presenting a roadblock for that program. So while they can't proceed anyway they redirect their funds and attention to fill another requirement they had anyway, but that could be filled with a less ambitious program... Although the timelines mentioned in the taipei times article seem plenty ambitious to me!
But this way involved parties can stay busy working on developing and completing a warship production program (assuming they don't run into the same roadblock of course), which is still a leveling up from the Tuo Chiang class corvette program for local industry. While at the same time NCSIST gets more time to develop that higher end radar. At the same time my original point still stands because the Kang Ding upgrade program will still provide important experience in (re)designing and working on a larger and high-end (at least after this upgrade) warship.
Then all relevant organizations will have experienced who have just finished 1. a completely indigenous modern surface combatant and 2. the upgrade and integration of combat systems into a medium to large modern surface combatant. And maybe even some radar engineers that got a little peek at the innards of whatever radar they end up putting on the Kang Ding's. So they'd be in a much better position to engage in producing a high end AAW or multi role surface warship program to replace the Kee Lung class AAW destroyers which will have to happen eventually, but which would also (in my opinion) benefit more from having more indigenous content than lower end program. Because I think that it will be harder to acquire higher end technology for Taiwan.
To conclude, I think the ROC navy made a pragmatic and prudent decision that addresses a number of pressing needs at the same time, and indicates an intent to maximize the value they derive from the time and money invested. It also shows that there's courage somewhere to make a turn around when it's necessary in stead of refusing to admit when you're wrong (or stuck in this case) and pressing on, only to come up with disappointing results. One of the better cases of military procurement I've seen lately!
https://focustaiwan.tw/cross-strait/202210120010
Overhauled frigate project unveiled - Taipei Times
Taiwan's New Domestic Frigate Project Hits Roadblock - Naval News
Taiwan Navy to equip light frigates with extended-range anti-ship missiles | Taiwan News | 2022-11-02 15:33:00
The navalnews article is most enlightening. It reports "Taiwanese media are reporting that the frigate project is not going smoothly because NCSIST has not been able to develop a compact AESA radar system for the ship" indicating that they're having some trouble with the development of high end radars for the ships.
They also quote "Dr. Hsiao-Huang Shu (舒孝煌), a research fellow at the Defense Ministry’s think tank, told LTN that large surface combatants with stronger sustainability and air surveillance capabilities are still necessary for monitoring the actions of Chinese ships, respond to Chinese gray zone conflict methods, secure sea lines of communication, dominate the sea, and exercise air superiority in the Bashi Channel and offshore eastern Taiwan. " This says to me that they still have an operational need for bigger ships .
However, the Taipei times article states " Dispatching naval vessels to monitor intruding Chinese ships has been taking a toll on the nation’s aging fleet, the ministry said, giving as an example a 50-year-old refitted Knox-class frigate, ". Well the Knox-class ships are very old, practically obsolete and should be getting very long in the tooth by now. I bet those old turbines are a pain to keep in service, and very expensive of course.
But finally the Taiwannews article refers to Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo: "according to the Navy official. While the Chinese ships had between 70 and 180 crew members each, Taiwan’s Navy vessels have between 200 to 300 naval staff each, revealing a considerable difference in cost, Chiang said. " And then it suddenly made a lot of sense to me! Like many others the ROC military has problems with personnel and recruitment numbers and older ships need a lot more crew than newer ones, especially American ones.
The way I see it is as follows, they where having trouble getting radars for their frigate program that was intended to replace their Kidd-class destroyers and that was presenting a roadblock for that program. So while they can't proceed anyway they redirect their funds and attention to fill another requirement they had anyway, but that could be filled with a less ambitious program... Although the timelines mentioned in the taipei times article seem plenty ambitious to me!
But this way involved parties can stay busy working on developing and completing a warship production program (assuming they don't run into the same roadblock of course), which is still a leveling up from the Tuo Chiang class corvette program for local industry. While at the same time NCSIST gets more time to develop that higher end radar. At the same time my original point still stands because the Kang Ding upgrade program will still provide important experience in (re)designing and working on a larger and high-end (at least after this upgrade) warship.
Then all relevant organizations will have experienced who have just finished 1. a completely indigenous modern surface combatant and 2. the upgrade and integration of combat systems into a medium to large modern surface combatant. And maybe even some radar engineers that got a little peek at the innards of whatever radar they end up putting on the Kang Ding's. So they'd be in a much better position to engage in producing a high end AAW or multi role surface warship program to replace the Kee Lung class AAW destroyers which will have to happen eventually, but which would also (in my opinion) benefit more from having more indigenous content than lower end program. Because I think that it will be harder to acquire higher end technology for Taiwan.
To conclude, I think the ROC navy made a pragmatic and prudent decision that addresses a number of pressing needs at the same time, and indicates an intent to maximize the value they derive from the time and money invested. It also shows that there's courage somewhere to make a turn around when it's necessary in stead of refusing to admit when you're wrong (or stuck in this case) and pressing on, only to come up with disappointing results. One of the better cases of military procurement I've seen lately!
