could get a dozen or 20 from South Korea at fixed price -
they'd run quieter, they'd probably be more reliable, less problems and do a far better job for the defence of Oz and certainly it's coastline
Hopefully ARKUS or F ARKUS falls r's over in the next couple of years
it's probably getting more and more doubtful that the yanks can or will supply anyway - they can't keep up the demand for themselves
ARKUS is BS
Despite the best attempts of the Australian government to hide the details of moves to acquire second-hand nuclear-powered submarines from the US, some basic facts are clear. Probably the most important is that to meet their own needs for attack class submarines until the 2040s, the US needs to lift the production rate to two per year by 2028 – but is nowhere near reaching that target.
To churn them out at a speed allowing the sale of between one and three to Australia, the production line must reach a rate of 2:33 per year, also by 2028, if we are to receive our first one in 2032. Even at this accelerated rate, it would only be producing one entire spare or surplus Virginia class every three years. The average over the last decade is 1.3 per year, though it is increasing – but not by very much.
It also must be remembered that even at this ambitious accelerated rate, Australia will receive submarines that were built somewhere between 2005 and 2020 in an “old-for-new” deal that has never been scrutinised. In other words, we are about to be paying to subsidise new Virginias for the US but in return will get boats already between one third and one half of the way through their service lives.
As we have previously reported, Australia is about to transfer $4.6 billion to Washington – not for the submarines themselves, they will be a lot more on top of that – but for a vague contribution to expanding the US shipbuilding base.
