Australia buying nuclear subs is like me selling my house for down payment on a five million dollar yacht moored somewhere off the coast of the Maldives.
Australian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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YOLO...It is also sort of carbon emission reduction.
What exactly does this Aukus add to the existing security relationships among the three?
US and UK are already in a formal alliance in the name of NATO; US and Australia have an ANZUS. All three of them belong to the anglo Five-Eyes intelligence club. So the only possible addition that this Aukus gives is the Australian-UK leg. Big deal.
The more significant news is that Australia is going to scrap the $90 billion conventional submarine deal with France. Instead it will elect to buy SSNs from the US, costing probably more. I saw some member has already compared ominously the possible number of Australian SSNs (in a few decades?) with the current seven SSNs that PLAN has now. But in any case, the key takeaways are that Australia is going to invest some serious money in its defense capabilities and they're going to be in this with its anglo cousins "for generations to come."
The other reading of this development is that NATO is unwieldy and unreliable for the Indo-Pacific business. Anglo alliance is a better vehicle to deal with China.
We'll have to wait and see whether UK and Australia will be significant security players in the Indo-Pacific region. We know UK has sent its carrier Queen Elizabeth all the way here to show flag and participate in exercises. It has also decided to leave two patrol boats in Japan permanently. We'll see if Australia will send its SSNs to fight in a Taiwan contingency as it promised, if and when it acquires them.
US and UK are already in a formal alliance in the name of NATO; US and Australia have an ANZUS. All three of them belong to the anglo Five-Eyes intelligence club. So the only possible addition that this Aukus gives is the Australian-UK leg. Big deal.
The more significant news is that Australia is going to scrap the $90 billion conventional submarine deal with France. Instead it will elect to buy SSNs from the US, costing probably more. I saw some member has already compared ominously the possible number of Australian SSNs (in a few decades?) with the current seven SSNs that PLAN has now. But in any case, the key takeaways are that Australia is going to invest some serious money in its defense capabilities and they're going to be in this with its anglo cousins "for generations to come."
The other reading of this development is that NATO is unwieldy and unreliable for the Indo-Pacific business. Anglo alliance is a better vehicle to deal with China.
We'll have to wait and see whether UK and Australia will be significant security players in the Indo-Pacific region. We know UK has sent its carrier Queen Elizabeth all the way here to show flag and participate in exercises. It has also decided to leave two patrol boats in Japan permanently. We'll see if Australia will send its SSNs to fight in a Taiwan contingency as it promised, if and when it acquires them.
There was (is?) also talk about having major assets stationed in Australia. With such an alliance announced, I wouldnt find it strange if Australia expanded its bases to accommodate more US and UK ships for sustained operations
escobar
Brigadier
Overpriced? Really? It seem Australia was asking the impossible in relation to the subs
escobar
Brigadier
B-21...
Great that they ditched the French subs. Would be funny if the price comes under too, now that is gonna be some interesting debate in Parliament! Definitely some backdoor politics there since the French didn't even get to offer the original Barracudas.
I don't think it is going to be a problem building it, as long as the new contractors pay the brown paper bag to to union bosses, but finding enough crew is going to be problematic. SSNs are the logical choice for Australia though, with or without influence of China.
I don't think it is going to be a problem building it, as long as the new contractors pay the brown paper bag to to union bosses, but finding enough crew is going to be problematic. SSNs are the logical choice for Australia though, with or without influence of China.
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