I'd like to thank all you readers, from every country, and agency, as well as Shawn C., Gessler and Karthik, for contributing to Submarine & Nuclear Matters.
Please scroll 1/10th down the right sidebar and you'll see "Total Pageviews". Its now 10,000,000+ . That is the tally for about 1/3rd, or 6 years, of the blog's 19 year existence.
In celebration I now feature three favourite video clips:
Cheers Pete
Alex Allan at Your Southshore Canada reports 8.34am July 6 Canadian time https://yoursouthshore.ca/mark-carney-in-halifax-for-key-defence-announcement/
"Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Halifax, where sources anticipate a defence update that includes submarine plans.
Carney is scheduled to tour a Canadian Armed Forces base at 4:50 p.m. Monday [ie. 5.50am Tuesday July 7 Sydney time] according to his public itinerary. He is set to make an announcement around 5:10 p.m. [ie. 6.10am Tuesday July 7 Sydney time - good time to watch the World Cup beforehand :-]
His office said the measures will focus on making Canada more secure, more resilient and more prosperous.
Multiple government and industry sources stated that Carney is expected to outline the next phase of Canada’s project to acquire a new fleet of submarines.
The itinerary shows Carney will depart Halifax at 5:50 p.m. [6.50am Tuesday July 7 Sydney time] for [the NATO Summit in Ankara] Turkiye."
Indonesia started pre-production work for its Scorpene Evo program in late May 2026, and has now announced that the first steel cutting for the first Scorpene Evo boat will take place this month, also revealing other key elements of the program.
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| Image: Naval Group via ANTARA |
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| Image: From Naval News. PT PAL Surabaya production facilities, note Submarine Hangar building on right of image.
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Janes reported in mid-June that PT PAL will support the full integration of torpedo-tube-launched missiles for the second batch of two boats, and for all follow-on orders, and this also indicates that Indonesia has already held discussions with Naval Group about further batches of Scorpene Evo submarines.
Integrating a torpedo-tube-launched system will enable the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) Scorpene Evo boats to launch Exocet SM39 and upcoming SM40 ASMs, and potentially the LCM-NCM Mk2 very long-range cruise missile.
Indonesia's current Naval Chief of Staff, Admiral Muhammad Ali, stated in October 2023 that "the ideal number of submarines to support our forces is 12" to meet Indonesia's then Minimum Essential Force (MEF) requirements, now known as Optimum Essential Force (OEF). This means that a successful program could see production extend through the late 2030s, and PT PAL has expressed a desire to develop an indigenous design for export from around 2042.
As I mentioned in my 2023 article on Indonesia's Submarine Forces, this ASEAN country is the world's largest archipelagic nation, with four major straits. In 2026, the sole remaining Type 209 Cakra (401) boat is 45 years old and still in service, while the follow-on Nagapasa-class (Improved Jang Bogo) entered service from 2017 to 2021.
While the Cakra should be replaced by the first Scorpene Evo boat, the Nagapasa-class are still new boats, but Indonesia might dispose of them when they are due for Mid-Life Updates (MLU) around 2037, as it does not make economic sense to run two submarine fleets with different training requirements and supply chains.