Hsun Hai (Swift Sea) Tuo Jiang - missile corvette

The Tuo Chiang is the first of possibly eight to 12 vessels to be built locally under the Hsun Hai program. The 500-ton twin-hulled corvette Tuo Jiang cost 2.1 billion Taiwanese dollars ($66.39 million USD) to build. She is armed with the locally developed Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles, a 76-mm gun and Mark 46 torpedoes.

It was announced in June 2014 that the Navy launched the research and development of a new ship combat system after years of stagnation. The project is called "Xunlian Project". The combat system is designed with a fully distributed workstation and is scheduled to replace the already outdated Wujin III combat system. The Tuojiang-class ship is the first ship equipped with this system. If it has been proven to perform well, it will be updated in succession when the main naval battleship undergoes mid-life refurbishment. Kangding-class frigates are also scheduled to be updated in this battle system.

The 2016 program for 11 additional Tou Jiang-class corvette builds, will be ordered in three flights (3 + 3 + 4) with improvements added to each batch. The Flight 1 design features an enclosed mast, which is expected to house a rotating phased-array radar based on the CS/MPQ-90, box-launched TC-2N air defense missiles system with four quad-packed launchers (16 missiles), an enlarged bridge/deckhouse, and up-gunned secondary cannon armament forward of the bridge. The hull will be lengthened and widened to accommodate the increased displacement. Construction was scheduled to start in 2017 with the first batch of three ships.

On 12 April 2010, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed the existence of a program to develop a stealthy catamaran vessel called the Taiwan Coastal Patrol Vessel. The Navy had a requirement for a 900-ton corvette to replace aging fast-attack missile boats and the eight Knox-class frigates. The ship was to be developed by the Naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung under the Hsunhai (Swift Sea) program. The design concept of the Tuojiang ship is similar to the original 600-ton littoral combat ship (LCS) of the U.S. Navy, not the current U.S. 3,000-ton LCS concept.

The program was first announced publicly in 2009, The Hsunhai program had been killed and resurrected on numerous occasions in the past and reports were a trial balloon by the Navy to generate interest and support for the program. Indeed, on 31 August 2010, it was announced that the 900 ton stealth corvette plan has been put on hold, due to lack of money. Taiwan's legislature approved a TWD24.98 billion (USD823 million) budget in 2011 to fund the construction of between seven and 11 of such corvettes under the Hsun Hai (Swift Sea) program. A fleet of 12 ships was expected as of 2014.

The Republic of China Navy (RoCN) launched the first of a new class of stealth missile corvettes on 14 March 2014. The 500-tonne twin-hull boat, built by Lung Teh Shipbuilding, was named Tuo Jiang [Tuo River] in a ceremony conducted in Suao, Yilan County. Tuo Jiang will undergo tests and reviews before it is commissioned. The vessel was scheduled to be deployed with the RoCN in the first half of 2015.

Taiwan's defense minister announced that the R.O.C. Navy has entered a new page in self-defense capability as it welcomes the nation's first locally built stealth missile corvette, the Tuo Chiang, 23 December 2014. Speaking during a handover ceremony at a business harbor at northeastern Yilan County, Yen praised the new 500-ton Tuo Chiang twin-hull corvette as the “fastest and most powerful warship in Asia.” He said "The design and the construction of the vessel are all made by Taiwanese, which could serve as a perfect model for the nation's domestic defense industry”.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences signed an agreement with the Navy on July 25, 2018 for the Navy’s "first batch of high-performance ship follow-up ships". The Chinese Academy of Sciences is responsible for system integration and is responsible for the acquisition and combat system development. According to the law of the agreement, the Chinese Academy of Sciences must sign a shipbuilding contract with qualified domestic shipyards before November 22. The case was handled in accordance with the procurement regulations by means of evaluation and selection. The Chinese Academy of Sciences invited many well-known domestic shipbuilding companies to participate. The selection process was conducted on November 8 of the same year. The selection committee considered financial and technical aspects, and the comprehensive score was based on Longde Shipbuilding. Longer Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. won the bid, and announced the result on 14 November 2018.

On 25 November 2020, at the Nanfangao Fishing Port in Suao Town, Yilan County, the first batch of high-performance ship follow-up ships (Tuojiang-class follow-up ships) with fast speed, strong firepower and asymmetrical combat power was also the first. Exposure in front of Chinese people.

Regarding the delivery time of the first batch of Tuojiang-class follow-up ships, on 18 November 2020, during the 14th plenary meeting (including secret meeting) of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee of the 10th Session of the Legislative Yuan, on the 382 and 383 cases. According to Zhang Zhongcheng, president of the National Zhongshan Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the main contractor for this ship. The ship was launched on time in December, and all the battle lines had arrived. Originally, the Tuojiang ship was scheduled to be delivered in December 2021, and the delivery could be advanced to July 2021; the entire evaluation can be improved (previously) to 5 months.

The first Tuojiang-class follow-up ship took about a year and six months from construction to launch. Although it seems to be better than the Tuojiang-class prototype ship (high-efficiency ship prototype)). It took more than two months from the start of construction to launch, but the follow-up ship’s tonnage was increased, and the performance was improved and strengthened. At the same time, the hull was also painted with the same marine camouflage as the Tuojiang ship currently in service.

The first ship of the Tuojiang-class follow-up ship was launched in mid-December 2020, and the time for the delivery and completion of the military depends on the progress of the follow-up Longde Shipyard trial and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ sea trial. As for the first batch of the second and third mass production cases of Tuojiang-class follow-up ships, the key lies in the completion and official operation of the Longde Shipbuilding Plant No. 6 Plant.

The Ta Chiang (PGG-619) was launched in Yilan, and was scheduled to be delivered to the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy in July. The Ta Chiang is the upgraded version of its prototype, the Tuo Chiang, with better stability and improved stealth capabilities. Unlike the prototype, the upgraded Tuo Chiang-class corvette, the Ta Chiang, is an anti-ship version fitted with subsonic Hsiung Feng-II missiles, supersonic Hisung Feng-III anti-ship missiles, a 76 mm cannon, and Tien-Chien II (TC-2N) air defense missiles. In 2021 Ta Chiang completed the testing and evaluation of the TC-2N missile. The ship’s name, Ta Chiang, is derived from the Tawa River in Taitung County. The Navy is hoping to obtain another five Tuo Chiang-class corvettes before 2023, after negotiating with Lung Teh Shipbuilding Co. in Yilan. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it planned to have three Tuo Chiang-class corvettes delivered by 2025 to counter China’s increasing military threats, which include frequent aerial incursions into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and an increasing number of military drills near Taiwan.

Taiwan's Navy took delivery of its second Tuo Chiang-class stealth multi-mission corvette, the Ta Chiang (PGG-619), on 27 July 2021, as part of an ongoing effort to beef up the capability of Taiwan's military to deter external threats. The handover ceremony was held in a shipyard in Yilan County, eastern Taiwan and was attended by Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao and other military officials. Chiu, in his remarks during the ceremony, said the name Ta Chiang was chosen by President Tsai Ing-wen and inspired by the Tawa River, which runs through the ancestral hunting grounds of the Paiwan indigenous people in Taitung County. The president hoped all men and women in uniform on the Ta Chiang can emulate the bravery of the Paiwan people, Chiu said, according to the report. By naming Naval vessels after places in Taiwan the president wishes to remind everyone living in Taiwan of their duty to protect the country's maritime domain, the report quoted Chiu as saying.

President Tsai Ing-wen 09 September 2021 commissioned the Navy’s domestically made “Ta Chiang” corvette, the first of six vessels with air defense capabilities described as “aircraft carrier killers.” The ship, which also has stealth characteristics and carries anti-ship missiles, was launched at a base in Suao, Yilan County, CNA reported. The Ta Chiang going into service amounted to “giving wings to a tiger” for the Navy’s efforts to defend the country, Tsai said.

As of 2021 the Navy hoped to obtain another five improved-variant of Tuo Chiang-class corvettes before 2023.