About subs, military/naval, missiles, nuclear weapons & politics. New Aussie subs have been just talk since 2009. Collins LOTE 2028-2040? of partial help. UUVs help more. POTUS may cancel AUKUS Virginias in 2031 as the USN needs all SSNs to the 2040s. Australian Gov ignores US higher priority to Columbia SSBNs (one/year being commissioned 2029-2041). Meaning minimal Virginia production until 2043. Shawn C and Gessler are excellent authors.
In the lower part of this photo is a April 7, 2022 shot of Russia's Moskva docked at Sevastopol, Crimea. It is resting between slaughtering Ukrainians.
(Photo courtesy MAXAR via AP)
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Russia admits its 14,500 tonne cruiser
Moskva, flagship of the Black Seas Fleet, sank on April 14, 2022, with no reported casualties (?). It remains unclear
whether Moskva’s fire (resulting in ammunition exploding) was caused by
Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles. The fire apparently started around 100km off the
Ukrainian coast, well within the 300+ km range of truck launched Neptune missiles. It is unclear whether Moskva was carrying any nuclear warheads on some of its SS-N-12 Sandbox large supersonic "carrier killer" cruise missiles.
The fire may have been yet another instance of poor Russian maintenance, seen earlier in the submarines Kursk, Orel and Losharik, not to mention a crane and fire damaging Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
Independent Senator [for Adelaide dominated, South Australia] Rex Patrick has criticised an apparent backflip by the federal government in their
plans to build nuclear powered submarines in Adelaide.
According to a report in
The Australian [current] Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the nuclear submarines
being acquired by Australia under the Aukus pact may be imported.
Morrison said that the
need to have a submarine deterrent quickly trumped any need to favour local
construction.
Senator Patrick, a former
submariner, took to social media to criticise the backflip."
Pete Comment
Given submarine building in Adelaide has been a sacred right since time immemorial (well, since the late 1970s) Morrison raising the issue of building the submarines overseas can only be seen as a pre-Election wedge tactic - to embugger the Opposition.
It was Submarine Matters that first raised the potential of nuclear submarines to drive a political wedge between Australia's main Opposition Greens and Labor parties and more damaging between the pro-nuke sub and anti-nuclear wings of Labor.
Morrison and his henchman/rival Peter Dutton (together they are "Mutton") have to date been frustrated that Labor has used the "small target" bi-partisan tactic of passively agreeing with the Morrison government's nuclear sub policy.
Mutton, by naming 3 east-coast nuclear sub base possibilities, attempted, with limited success, in inducing the Labor wings to argue. But my hero, Labor leader Anthony "Albo" Albanese managed to hose down the most loathsome inter-wing disagreements.
Now Mutton's extra-ordinary statement that the nuke subs might be built overseas, where there are no Australian voters, can be seen as a gamble to extract comments from Albanese and the pro-nuke subs wing that "nuclear subs should be built in Adelaide".
Mutton then hopes that "Nuclear NIMBY (NN)" elements of the Labor movement will then contradict Albo's sound, manly and dare I say, fair, pro-nuclear sentiments.
Mutton is banking on tame reporters asking every Labor person in sight whether they agree/disagree that Australia's future nuclear subs should be built overseas.
Whether Mutton succeeds the ensuing weeks, up to the May Election, will tell.
Here and above is a video recorded address by Captain Christopher "Chris" Skinner RAN (Retired) concerning "Nuclear Powered Submarines and other AUKUS technologies for the [Australian Defence Force] ADF." This authoritative and concise presentation was hosted by the Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales, on January 25, 2022.
Up to 19:35 into the Youtube Chris Skinner describes AI, LDUUVs and other AUKUS agreement technologies.
19:35 Chris Skinner begins to discuss the issues and advantages of SSNs.
45:45 - Part of the training of nuclear propulsion scientists, engineers (including engineering officers to serve on SSNs) requires a land based "light" [ie. miniature] nuclear propulsion reactor. Australia's small "OPAL" reactor at Lucas Heights, Sydney, has the wrong characteristics. Australia will need a land based reactor of the type that will actually go into its future SSNs.
49:35 Chris Skinner displays the SSNs for Australia "Nuclear Propulsion Roadmap" below:
which requires:
- the Collins Life of Type Extension (LOTE) rebuilds to begin 2026 - the first Australian "SSN01" to begin building in 2030, and - the simultaneous lease of 3 US or UK SSNs by 2036.
Jumping forward in the Youtube
55:10 Question from the floor to Chris Skinner: “You mentioned leasing [nuclear subs] from the UK and US with their own actual crew. Would [those leased nuclear subs] be HMAS, HMS or USS?
55:28 Chris Skinner “No they’d by USS and HMS. They’d be commissioned boats of that country, which we are paying for them to base in Western Australia [Australia’s main submarine base at HMAS Stirling aka Fleet Base West, just south of Perth] and to offer training billets in those submarines for Australian submariners to achieve the qualifications we need for our own nuclear submarines.
Jumping back in the Youtube
51:45 Chris Skinner says:
“If, as I think we
will, go with the UK Astute class” “It figured, by the way pretty heavily, [in the AUKMIN Talks Joint Statement January 21, 2022 see paragraphs 5 and 6]. Its right up front in the
Joint Ministerial Statement."
"The Astute has a number of advantages. Its smaller
crew. It runs to a UK culture which the Australian Navy still follows etc. We expect that the UK would build the reactor and the propulsion plant. That’s
all the after part of the submarine. The US would build the Combat System gear
and probably why not get Lockheed Martin to rollover from the Attack-class to
building these, and we put it all together and assemble it in South Australia.
That’s doable."
56:04 Chris Skinner “I’m
not insisting on Chatham House Rules”
1:01 Chris Skinner words
to the effect - extra diesel submarines for Australia (in addition to the
Collins LOTE process) are a distraction which has been ruled out at the highest
levels in Canberra. We have other ways of dealing with the force structure. [Chris may
be implying part interim Australian use of LDUUVs, ASW surface ships and ASW aircraft...to fill any perceived submarine gap.]
1:04:07 Question from the
floor to Chris Skinner: What of “the media reporting that the US and the US
don’t have nuclear submarines to lease” Chrs Skinner response to the effect Money,
time and strategic need would make it possible. The SSN purchase process is not determined by elections but
money to submarine building companies like BAE, talks. --------------------------
Here and above is a Youtube "BAE Systems Maratime (Building of Astute Class Submarine). It was uploaded June 29, 2014 but most is August 2009. It is about design and dockside testing of HMS Astute. The last few minutes are particularly inspiring. Highlights include:
4 min 51 secs Barrow-in-Furness is
a submarine shipyard "town" of 60,000 people launching its first sub Abdül Hamid in 1887. That first sub used a coal fired steam engine, with minimal batteries, for a few minutes submerged.
7:02 Barrow is the only site in the UK "where we design, build, test and commission nuclear submarines" [all these facilities and workforce specialties will need to be duplicated in Adelaide, whatever it costs]
7:30 show gets down to Astutes subs.
15:32 "A submarine packs in 3 times more machinery and equipment than any surface ship [of the same weight]"
32:00 RN crew test Astute's Combat System in wargame exercise, still dockside.
35:00 Nuclear emergency measures - whole message seems "no worries".
40:26 - as at August 2009? "Astute is over 4 years late and overspent by about 800 million pounds" [and that sub is being built by the UK submarine experts - more efficient than Australia!]
40:28 September 5, 2009 "and we're starting barrage(?) testing"
