Maj. Gen. Scott Papano, executive officer of the U.S. Strategic Submarine Program, recently made a speech at the Mitchell Aerospace Institute's Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum, which confused australians because he said:
The addition of Australia's submarine construction plan is disastrous, and the current US military has a large number of Ohio nuclear submarines that need to be decommissioned and replaced by Columbia-class SSBNs, but Australia's submarine construction will conflict with the US Ohio-class submarine replacement plan.
Australia abandoned France's conventional submarines and ordered nuclear submarines from the United States, compensating France with $600 million for this, and the United States said it was too late to build! The AUKUS plan could not be carried out, and Australia was completely confused!
The United States pried the French business, and the French foreign minister was furious: a knife was inserted in the back
On 15 September 2021, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a joint statement announcing the establishment of AUKUS and proposing to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines within 18 months.
The joint statement said that the alliance will protect and defend the common interests of the three parties in the Indo-Pacific region based on the international order, and strengthen the development of tripartite alliances, intelligence sharing, artificial intelligence and quantum technology. Australia will abide by the high standards and transparency of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and remain committed to fulfilling its obligations to non-nuclear States, the International Atomic Energy Agency and others.
Morrison said teams from three countries would develop a joint plan over the next 18 months to assemble a new fleet of Australian nuclear-powered submarines, which would make Australia the seventh country in the world to have a nuclear reactor propulsion submarine.
What nuclear submarines are built? Did the French hear this wrong? In 2016, Australia had already ordered 12 shortfin barracuda-class conventional submarines from France, is this intended to be cancelled? This is a $60 billion contract, and the French were so happy that they directly elevated it to the strategic level of cooperation with the "contract of the century".
The French foreign minister was furious: a knife was inserted in his back
France was outraged by Australia's unexpected decision to cancel a huge submarine deal, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drrian calling Canberra a "stab in the back" and putting pressure on its friendly relations with Washington. The French ambassador to Australia, Tebaux, said:
"I don't understand why anyone would lie like this, and I don't understand why people I know can lie to my face for 18 months."
Tabor said australia rejected the proposal for nuclear-powered submarines when it signed a contract with France in 2016, opting instead for a diesel-powered version, with France's shortfin barracuda class having and nuclear-powered versions:
"Although there can be a frank dialogue between the two countries on this, this has never happened. The fact that some countries can reject allies like France so strongly shows that there are other more trusted allies behind the country. Such an approach would raise concerns in a region that requires cooperation rather than hostility. ”
The subtext of Tebow is that the United States and Britain did not hesitate to pry the French business in disregard of the face of their allies, which will have a huge impact on cooperation between future allies.
On September 17, 2021, the French government announced a recall of its ambassador to the United States and Australia, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the foreign ministry made the decision at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, a rare decision made because the incident was "very serious."
French Foreign Minister: Jean-Yves Le Drian
Recalling ambassadors between Western countries is very rare, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pretends to be harmless, insisting that he told Macron about the plan at a lengthy dinner in Paris in June! I have to admire Morrison's ability to speak blindly with his eyes open, and if Macron had heard this decision, he would have jumped up in his sleep.
Since then, the angry Macron has not spoken to the United States and Australia, completely ignoring biden and Morrison's phone calls, this time France is really angry, the $60 billion big single flew, and it was robbed by allies, can you not be angry!
It was not until a week later, on September 22, that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron on the phone, and Biden personally "clarified" and "explained" the situation to Macron, hoping that Macron would consider Australia's situation from the perspective of a tripartite alliance, and Macron reluctantly agreed to let the ambassador return to work first.
On June 11, 2022, Australia's new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said France had accepted a "fair and just solution" of 555 million euros to resolve australia's breach of a huge contract of 56 billion euros (about $60 billion).
Are U.S. submarines more advanced?
Australia ordered from France in 2016 the Shortfin Barracuda-class diesel-electric assault submarine, but this class of submarines was originally a nuclear-powered version with a displacement of 5,300 tons, a length of 99.5 meters, a width of 8.8 meters, and a draft of 7.3 meters, using the K15 nuclear reactor, 150 megawatts (200,000 horsepower).
The submarine has a maximum underwater speed of 24.8 nautical miles / h, a surface speed of 14 nautical miles / hour, an unlimited range, a nuclear fuel supply every 10 years, a 4x533 mm torpedo, in addition to the MdCN cruise missile and the Flying Fish SM39 Mod2 missile,
Also equipped with A3SM (mica) missiles and F21 Artemis heavy torpedoes and FG29 mines, diesel-electric submarine weapons configuration is not very different, but the power parameters of diesel-electric submarines are relatively different, Australia and France did not publish the specific parameters of these conventional submarines, but because of the oxygen consumption of diesel engines, every once in a while it is necessary to surface to the depth of the snorkel to charge.
Therefore, only when attacking will use battery power to approach the enemy target, flee after attack, compared with nuclear submarines, diesel-electric submarine operations have been greatly affected, so AIP submarines were born, there are many power methods, the early is to carry high concentrations of oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide in the catalysis of potassium permanganate to obtain oxygen to supply diesel engine combustion.
Later, there was the use of liquid oxygen diesel engines for oxygen, there are also Stirling cycle engines or fuel cells, etc., but the main power is still insufficient, and the submarine time and high-speed submarine capabilities are very limited, so all countries are pursuing nuclear-powered submarines, but because the technical requirements for submarine nuclear reactors are quite high, the countries that can currently manufacture nuclear submarines have no other home except the five permanents.
The model of submarine australia ordered from the United States is a version of the Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine (SSN), which is about 115 meters long, 10 meters wide, has a draft of 9.8 meters and a displacement of 7900 tons.
The power system is the General Electric S9G pressurized water reactor, steam turbine*1 (40,000 hp), water maximum speed: more than 25 nautical miles, underwater speed: 34 nautical miles, this speed seems to be much higher than the Parameters of the French Shortfin Barracuda class submarines. The armament is equipped with 4x533 mm torpedo tubes, 25 MK-48 torpedoes, and 12 bow VLS, which can fire BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, etc.
Obviously, the US nuclear-powered submarine is not only a big lap, but also a lot higher than the performance parameters! Australia in 2016 was primarily concerned with defense, and now it has been fooled by the United States and the United Kingdom into joining the AUKUS Alliance to the Indo-Pacific Front, confronting China, requiring a voyage across the equator to the Western Pacific, a voyage that requires nuclear-powered submarines!
Australia is far away in the South Pacific, could have concentrated on developing the economy, but Morrison, a fool, rushed to the front line for others, not only a large number of Australian industrial and agricultural products exported to China were damaged, but also by the United States and Britain to buy guns and guns, it is really amazing, this United States and Britain are indeed old imperialism, fooling Xiaobai really has a set.
USA: The equipment renewal plan is too late, Australia you have to stand aside first
Maj. Gen. Scott Papano, executive officer of the U.S. Strategic Submarine Program, said shipyards such as Connecticut's Universal Power Electric Boat (GDEB) were overburdened and were currently stepping up construction of the U.S. strategic nuclear submarine with a launch ballistic missile capability (SSBN) and had no time to produce nuclear submarines for Australia.
Columbia-class strategic nuclear submarines are the top priority of the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. military plans to deliver in 2027 to replace the aging Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines, which have a length of 171 meters, a width of 13 meters, a displacement of 20,800 tons, and are equipped with 16 Trident ballistic missiles, which will become the largest nuclear submarine of the U.S. military when installed.
In contrast, although the Ohio class is about the same size, but the displacement is 18,700 tons, which is obviously much smaller than the Columbia class, because the Ohio class was first built in 1976, although the last one was only equipped in 1997, the earliest equipment of the Ohio class has long been outdated, and will still be retired in 2027 after many upgrades, so the U.S. military is eager to complete the Columbia class to complete the replacement.
Papano said that the construction time of the Columbia-class nuclear submarine has been reduced from 84 months to 78 months, but it is still much behind the original plan, and the current shipyards such as the Connecticut General Dynamic Electric Boat (GDEB) have saturated the production capacity, and the British BAE Systems Barrow-in-Furness Shipyard is also unable to free up capacity, because the factory is producing 2 astute-class attack submarines, which is also a pioneer in the replacement." Class ballistic missile nuclear submarine (Eurasian Times original, attack type instead of strategic class, seems a bit problematic).
Alert-class nuclear submarine
The United States and the United Kingdom will Australia to buy the U.S. Military's Virginia-class nuclear submarines, Australia abandoned France with stable supply capabilities, the United States and Britain can not deliver on time, this operation is a bit unkind, and this Morrison did not even examine the delivery capacity of the manufacturer and the past reputation before signing the contract, it is a big mistake, but according to Morrison's consistent way of doing things, this result is also expected.
"Eurasian Times" said that Australia is greatly fooled, because Virginia's large attack nuclear submarines are more suitable for use in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean, but not suitable for shallow waters such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea, which will have great limitations, and if it is really for use in the first island chain, then there are enough conventional submarine supplies at bases such as Guam, Subic Bay, Singapore and Okinawa.
Therefore, the Eurasian Times said that if Australia is not a fool, then they should have a bigger goal, as to what, then only Morrison, a big fool, can know, and the successor Albanes has become the wrongdoer, because Morrison signed the contract, but it is his turn to pay. Australia's annual defense budget is only 48.6 billion US dollars, the US military's nuclear submarine contract is said to be 100 billion US dollars, the US military is really fierce, fooling allies to carry a big knife and selling a sky-high price, this is the real skill! (End)
Reference:
https://eurasiantimes.com/blow-for-australia-us-shipyards-overburdened-to-construct-nuke-subs/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/16/stab-in-the-back-french-fury-australia-scraps-submarine-deal