The provision of American Virginia-class subs depends on US industrial development, military needs, politics – and possibly Trump. Australia has no agency or leverage over any of these, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull writes in The Guardian.
As we contemplate the real likelihood of Trump #2, what does that mean for Aukus? We start off with absolutely no leverage.
Scott Morrison’s big idea in Aukus was to cancel a submarine construction program with France which would have given us new boats to replace the Collins-class subs as they retired in the 2030s, with a partnership to build new (as yet design incomplete) nuclear-powered “Aukus SSN” submarines with the UK assisted by the United States, the first of which would not be available, assuming all went on time, until the 2040s.
But how do you fill the capability gap left by the retirement of the Collins-class submarines in the 2030s? Most big defence projects run late and the UK contractor, BAE, has consistently run late and over budget on its naval projects, including the most recent UK Astute-class submarine and the Australian Hunter-class frigate.
The solution was to acquire three, possibly five Virginia-class submarines from the US, with the first arriving in 2032 and the next two in 2035 and 2037, with an additional two if the Aukus SSNs are late.
They would be a mix of secondhand boats, with 20 years of life left, and new boats. These would cover our submarine needs until the Aukus SSNs were constructed.
If submarines were like iPhones and you could buy them off the shelf that would all make sense, but as it happens the US navy is short of submarines. It has at least 17 fewer Virginias than it currently needs. Not only is US industry not building enough to meet the US navy’s needs, it cannot maintain a satisfactory rate of repair and maintenance of the submarines it has. As of last September, 33% of the SSN force was in depot maintenance or idle awaiting maintenance, versus a target of 20%.
At the moment the US is completing between 1.2 and 1.3 Virginia-class submarines a year. This year the US navy has cut its order for new Virginias from two boats to one in recognition of the inability of industry currently to meet its needs.
In order to meet the US navy’s own stated needs and catch up on its submarine shortage, this rate of production needs to grow to two boats a year by 2028 and 2.33 boats a year shortly after that. In order to provide boats to Australia, as contemplated by Aukus, that higher rate of production would need to be maintained.
The full article is here.
