April 1, 2021: Taiwan ran into some legal problems while upgrading its six French built Kang Ding (La Fayette) class frigates. Taiwan is upgrading weapons and electronics, all of which will change the appearance of the Kang Dings. The external appearance is important because the La Fayette is a “stealth” design with few external forms that could make it easier for radar to detect or identify the ship. Removing the Sea Chaparral launcher behind the main gun will improve stealth but the addition of new radars and other sensor will probably complicate the stealth aspect of the ship. One of the differences between the La Fayette and the Kang Ding was that the Taiwan version of the ship left out the 32 (8x4) Mk 41 VLS (Vertical Launch System) cells behind the main gun. On the Kang Ding that was replaced with the deck mounted launcher for four Sea Chaparral anti-aircraft missiles, with eight reload missiles below decks. The eight anti-ship m