Keeping in mind its very early days with the Aus Nuke Subs appearing far into the future - maybe well into the 2040s or 2050s.
At this early stage UK Prime Minister Johnson's September 15, 2021 official comments "hundreds of highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom [in presumably marginal UK electorates]" appears to indicate the UK nuke sub industry will provide substantial help to Australia.
It is significant that on September 17, 2021 (2 days after UK PM Johnson's AUKUS submarine comments) the following appeared:
"In September 2021, the Ministry of Defence announced a £170 million investment into design work for the successor to the Astute-class. This funding included two £85 million contracts which were awarded to BAE Systems and Rolls Royce.[22] The new class of submarine is expected to replace the Astute-class during the 2040s.[23] "
If the UK submarine building industry (less efficient than the US) takes the main running then my best current guesses are:
Australia will eventually have 8 follow ons to the relatively slow UK Astute SSNs with a new feature of 2 US invented Vertical Launch Systems (VLS) with an all up total of 14 Tomahawk Anti-ship/Land-attack missiles.
Other US features (Combat System, other weapons, UK variant of a US reactor) will go into this Hybrid US-UK Aus Nuke Sub. By the time Adelaide Hybrids are "ready" they will be the most costly SSNs ever built - more expensive than the US Seawolf-class.
Collins Until the 2050s
From now until the 2050s, Australia will rely on increasingly old Collins diesel-electric subs. The 6 Collins subs will consecutively be undergoing their mid-life upgrade, in Adelaide naturally (for 2 years minimum at AU$2 Billion each (or more)) in a process known as the Life of Type Extension (LOTE).
5 comments:
Ah ah ah Let me laugh !
Hi Anonymous
Rest assured this Nuke Sub decision will give Prime Minister Morrison the Re-Election he, and his scandal prone Men, so desperately crave. Scottie's opinion poll performance has marginally improved already https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Australian_federal_election#Graphical_summary
What if it costs 2 or 3 times more than the Attack class and takes until the 2050s to launch the first sub.
Scottie will have long retired to a better paying arms firm CEO's job, organised during his Ambassador-ship to Washington.
Pete
or hopefully Scotty would have been 'raptured' away to the netherworld by 2050..though I do wish the 'poet Kalidasa' style 'axing the very branch that one is sitting on' behavior by the electorate changes globally for the better.
Hi Ghalib
I never dreamed Submarine Matters would reach the poetic summit, in terms of that great Classical Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa.
As all we here in the SubMatt's Führer bunker know:
"Kālidāsa (Devanagari: कालिदास; fl. 4th–5th century "CE" ie AD) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest playwright and dramatist. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas. His surviving works consist of three plays, two epic poems and two shorter poems.
Much about his life is unknown except what can be inferred from his poetry and plays. His works cannot be dated with precision, but they were most likely authored before the 5th century CE. According to the scholar Pandit Digambar Jha of Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga
[Darbhanga being a name on the tip of every Aussie schoolkid's tongue]
Sanskrit University in his book "Mithila and Kalidas" claimed Kalidasa as him being a Maithil and a gem of Mithila. He lived at Kalidas Dih in Madhubani district of Bihar."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalidasa
Beware! Scottie the Sanskrit Scholar.
Pete
India's army has been testing a drone swarm concept and the Indian Airforce is likely to follow suit with the loitering munitions swarm concept soon
https://quwa.org/2021/01/17/india-demonstrates-drone-swarming-capability-2/
While the Indian media was not very verbal about it, the pakistanis certainly noticed it. A few weeks ago the tri-services went ahead and ordered multiple drone systems for various roles
https://theprint.in/defence/army-navy-iaf-sign-deals-for-swarm-kamikaze-drones-amid-govt-push-for-new-tech-warfare/727913/
A number of Indian start-ups have independently or with Israeli tie-ups started offering multiple products such as drone swarms, loitering munitions etc...
KQN rightly pointed out that such drones dropping sonobuoys or targeted munitions and AI capable will be a permanent reality in places like the SCS and be part of chinese CBGs as they get bolder and bolder....better for us to be ready too...
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