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Pelican
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Royal Navy nuclear submarine technology to be shared with Australia


A new trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS) was announced yesterday. As part of this new alliance, the US and UK will assist with the construction of up to 8 nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs). In this brief commentary, we outline some of the implications.

The new alliance has been largely driven by the increasing threat from China. Australian relations with the Chinese have deteriorated considerably and the rapidly expanding PLA Navy poses a growing threat that would most effectively be countered by a powerful submarine force. With a shared language, history and value system, AUKUS makes sense and is an extension of the existing ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing agreement. At this time there is not, however, an equivalent of NATO’s Article Five that specifically commits each nation to send military forces to protect the other in event of an attack by a third party. Should China continue its rate of military expansion it is possible that it may drive Indo-Pacific nations to form a more committed NATO-like alliance with AUKUS at its heart.

AUKUS is another step for post-Brexit Britain, becoming more closely aligned with its traditional allies in the Anglosphere as it distances from former EU partners. There is also the potential of economic benefits for the UK at the expense of the French, at a time when Macron is increasingly unloved by London.

The Royal Australian Navy needs to replace its conventional Collins class (SSK) boats and under its SEA 1000 project, in April 2016 signed a A$50 billion contract with the French Naval Group to build up to 12 Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A boats. Any submarine construction project needs strong political and financial backing as well as talented managers and leaders to deliver successfully. It is one of the most difficult engineering challenges that any nation can undertake, given the complexities of design and the skills and infrastructure needed to build maintain and operate them. Even Spain, with a history of submarine building has struggled to deliver their S-80 AIP SSK and despite the UK’s strong naval heritage, encountered major problems and delays to the Astute class.

The “Attack class” project was always going to be problematic compared to those counties with existing domestic submarine programmes. Effectively the Attack programme added 3 extra hurdles: Converting the French Barracuda-class SSN design to a conventionally powered version, replacing the French combat systems with a new US/Aus designed option and a major technology and skills transfer from France to Australia. HMAS attack was supposed to have been laid down in 2023 and be the first of 3 batches of boats built over a 25-year period. The estimated cost of the programme had risen to A$80bn by 2020 and tension began to increase with Naval Group as the true scale of the task emerged.

The decision to build SSNs has not eliminated these issues, and in fact the cost and complexity of the task is magnified by the need to acquire supporting nuclear infrastructure. Australia has no civil nuclear industry to draw upon (nuclear power was formally banned by legislation in 1998). Historically it has adopted an anti-nuclear stance that included preventing warships from entering port if they were either nuclear powered or possibly carrying nuclear weapons.

Continues at - https://www.navylookout.com/royal-navy- ... australia/
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Pelican
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AUSTRALIA'S SUBS.

Mark Urban:
"Going back over Australian coverage of their submarine project over recent months it's v hard to see how a switch could have come as a 'complete surprise' to France. Any embassy reading the papers or watching the TV should have picked up signs of trouble."

Independent Senator Rex Patrick says Australia needs to “switch to a plan B” when it comes to submarines.

His comments come amid calls to junk the $90 billion order for 12 submarines from French shipbuilder, Naval Group.
“The current program we’ve got … is a mess,” Mr Patrick told Sky News host Peta Credlin.
“We’ve got a disagreement between the Department of Defence and the French company Naval Group, and that has actually been long running now.”
He said the program is “running late” and will actually end up being a “$100 billion program”.
“It’s unlikely to deliver a regionally superior submarine … and we’ve also got a program that hasn’t met expectations in respective building or sovereign industry capability, much of the work has gone back to France, it’s been slim pickings for Australian industry,” Mr Patrick said.
“It’s not worked out, we need to switch to a plan B.”
See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t_d5e24wUQ&t=121s
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Pelican
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Budget overruns and culture clashes over long vacations plagued the $50 billion submarine deal France got booted from in favour of the US and UK

France's deal to build Australia's new submarines was dogged by years of problems.
They came to a head this week when Australia ditched France and struck a deal with the UK and US.
As costs ballooned, officials were "stunned" by the French taking a month vacation each summer.

See - https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-cu ... US&IR=TSee -
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Pelican
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Navy Lookout

Map showing approx. time/distance factors for Australian submarines reaching area of operations SSK v SSN.
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Leased submarines to fill security gap

Australia plans to lease and share existing nuclear-powered submarines years before acquisition, narrowing a risk the American or British subs arrive too late to counter China’s rapid military expansion in the Indo-Pacific.

Continues at - https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affa ... 1632085145

Also - https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affa ... 1632117717
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REUTERS - Australian documents showed French submarine project was at risk for years

France should not have been surprised that Australia cancelled a submarine contract, as major concerns about delays, cost overruns and suitability had been aired officially and publicly for years, Australian politicians said.

Paris has recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, saying it was blindsided by Canberra's decision to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain rather than stick with its contract for French diesel submarines. read more

Yet as early as September 2018, an independent oversight board led by a former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter had advised Australia to look at alternatives, and questioned whether the project was in the national interest, a 2020 public report from the country's Auditor-General shows.

Continues at - https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... ce=twitter
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Defence grounds Seahawk helicopter fleet after crew forced to ditch into Philippine Sea

Three Royal Australian Navy personnel have been rescued from the Philippine Sea and treated for minor injuries after their Seahawk helicopter was forced to ditch into the water.

Defence has now grounded its entire fleet of the American-made aircraft just days after the United States approved a $1.3-billion sale of 12 additional Seahawks to the Navy.

Continues at - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-14/ ... /100538690
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Nuclear submarines for Australia – what are the options?


The political and strategic ramifications of the AUKUS pact announced in September continue to reverberate but the details of how Australia will actually acquire nuclear-powered submarines have been rather overlooked. Here we focus on the daunting technical, industrial and financial challenges to be overcome on the long road to joining the SSN club.
Even the acquisition of conventional submarines is not easy and submarine construction projects completed on time and budget are rare. Nuclear propulsion adds another layer of complexity and cost and has been described as an engineering challenge more demanding than building the space shuttle. There are good reasons why SSN ownership is currently limited to a small group of elite nations consisting of the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and India. (With considerable French assistance, Brazil is on track to have its first nuclear boat in the late 2020s).

From an operational perspective, the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) conclusion that it needs SSNs makes complete sense. The distance from its bases to the likely areas of operation are considerable and even the best SSK will take many more days to get into theatre – it’s around 3,500 miles from the RAN operating base in Perth to the South China Sea. The RAN will also have to match up against a Chinese submarine fleet that already operates SSNs. PLAN boats may not currently be of the quality of western equivalents but if progress with their surface fleet is any indicator, they are likely to grow rapidly in quality and numbers over the next decade.

Continues at - https://www.navylookout.com/nuclear-sub ... e-options/
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
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Pelican
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Re: General News

Unread post by Pelican »

Nuclear submarines for Australia – what are the options?


The political and strategic ramifications of the AUKUS pact announced in September continue to reverberate but the details of how Australia will actually acquire nuclear-powered submarines have been rather overlooked. Here we focus on the daunting technical, industrial and financial challenges to be overcome on the long road to joining the SSN club.
Even the acquisition of conventional submarines is not easy and submarine construction projects completed on time and budget are rare. Nuclear propulsion adds another layer of complexity and cost and has been described as an engineering challenge more demanding than building the space shuttle. There are good reasons why SSN ownership is currently limited to a small group of elite nations consisting of the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and India. (With considerable French assistance, Brazil is on track to have its first nuclear boat in the late 2020s).

From an operational perspective, the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) conclusion that it needs SSNs makes complete sense. The distance from its bases to the likely areas of operation are considerable and even the best SSK will take many more days to get into theatre – it’s around 3,500 miles from the RAN operating base in Perth to the South China Sea. The RAN will also have to match up against a Chinese submarine fleet that already operates SSNs. PLAN boats may not currently be of the quality of western equivalents but if progress with their surface fleet is any indicator, they are likely to grow rapidly in quality and numbers over the next decade.

Continues at - https://www.navylookout.com/nuclear-sub ... e-options/
HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
Brian James
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Commissioning of Supply Class Replenishment Oiler HMAS Stalwart at Fleet Base West on November 13th 2021.
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