TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will produce its own torpedo tubes to be fitted on all but one of the submarines it plans to build, reports said Tuesday (June 28).

As Chinese pressure has made it impossible for Taiwan to acquire submarines from overseas, it launched its own program to build diesel-electric attack submarines beginning in 2020, with the completion of eight vessels likely to start in 2023.

While some elements of the submarines could not be produced locally and had to be procured overseas, torpedo launch tubes will be manufactured in Taiwan based on technology transferred from abroad, the Liberty Times reported Tuesday.

The submarine builder, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, had reportedly set up a unit at its yard in Kaohsiung City to build the torpedo tubes, with tests producing satisfactory results. The launch tubes will be installed on the second to eighth submarines to be built at the shipyard, according to the Liberty Times. The first submarine will be fitted with imported tubes, though the report did not specify where they had been built.

Military officials denied reports that the submarine construction program was facing delays because of global supply chain and transportation problems.