accelerating Aussie nuke sub aquisition

[vincent]

gcaptain.com/us-to-speed-up-nuclear-submarine-deal-with-australia/

[Ian Thomas]

There are offers and counter-offers flying fast, so it seems.
The other week a USN Admiral said, No, they can't do nuclear boats for Oz bc they're too busy "rolling their own".
Then the Brits made noises about how much better Astute would be, if purchased.
Now the Yanks are back at the table ...

And the Euros have lots of plain-ordinary diesel subs on offer to help "fill a gap" 💰 ...

EU open to help plug Aust capability gap. (2022, August 19). Australian Associated Press.
www.aap.com.au/uncategorised/eu-open-to-help-plug-aust-capability-gap/

Money talks: there's even talk that the French nuclear boat might be in the mix. Obviously, we're back in the good books with France, having coughed up ~$800M for the "sub that never was". Wtf .. it's only money 💰

* Hmm. I see AAP's removed that story. 🤔

[vincent]

Oz to start with two used nukey boats, and one new off the assembly line.

www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/australia-to-get-one-new-build-virginia-class-submarine-two-from-u-s-navy

[dennisw]

We can only hope that our politicians and greenies will get some education and realise that today nuclear power is quite safe. Sixty years ago we were somewhat disorganised and careless when finding just how much uranium we have particularly in the gold fields. I even got investigated for making my own reactor (I think the university dobbed me in because they were the only ones who knew what I was doing). I wasn't stupid enough to be doing it in the shed at home, like the kid in America, I was using an old gold mine that had a supply of uranium oxide, and didn't admit I had it anywhere apart from a couple of samples.

I think the paranoia started in the early 60's, and we haven't grown; even our Energy Minister only knows what he learned from the Simpsons and our education department teaches nothing. I don't think any kids today actually learn about the periodic chart or other basic physics such as gravity or motion. We live in a nation of idiots - but they know their pronouns.

[vincent]

They're one step closer to building those nukey subs.

www.defensenews.com/global/2024/03/21/aukus-nations-name-british-australian-vendor-team-to-build-submarines/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dfn-dnr

[Ian Thomas]

RADM Briggs knows what he's talking about vis-a-vis submarines. Argues for the American nuke boats ...

To control our destiny, we must learn from our past for the AUKUS SSN
12 Mar 2024
www.aspistrategist.org.au/to-control-our-destiny-we-must-learn-from-our-past-for-the-aukus-ssn/
I have argued that the baseline design for SSN AUKUS should be shifted to the Virginia Class design. The US plans to commence building its Block VII Virginia in 2029 and this timing would seem a good fit for the an SSN AUKUS (V). Most importantly in this context, a Virginia baseline would avoid the need to sustain two different classes of SSN, each with its own supply chain.