Defense Minister Wellington Koo is reiterating that it will "extremely
challenging" for shipbuilder, C-S-B-C to meet the November deadline for the
delivery of its indigenous submarine prototype.

The statement comes after Koo last week was forced to admit that the Narwhal
prototype is currently only in the early stages of its sea testing.

Speaking to at a meeting of the Legislative Foreign Affairs and National
Defense Committee, Koo said there have been issues with obtaining relevant
equipment and technical support from the original manufacturers ...

.. but any failure by C-S-B-C to meet its delivery deadline will result in
the shipbuilder facing a fine of 190,000 per day for breach of contract.

However, the accumulated amount will be capped at about 4-billion N-T - a
figure that represents some 20-per cent of the total cost of building the
submarine.

According to the defense minister, C-S-B-C is prioritizing quality and safety
while conducting the sea tests and Navy is working closely with the
shipbuilder on the submarine prototype's power management system and its
integrated platform management system.

The defense ministry had originally said the Narwhal's sea trials were
scheduled to be completed by September 30.