Seems pretty obvious to me that we are not going to build our own nuclear submarines in Australia:
Australia's switch to nuclear-powered submarines is prompting a government push for the fleet to be built faster, possibly at the expense of local industry content, to make up for time lost under the now-scrapped French deal.
I mean, why bother if you are never going to build your own reactors - and I am pretty sure we are not going to go to the trouble of doing that.
The whole complexity of the Australian submarine deal was trying to do it in a way to keep shipbuilding jobs here. But submarine building is surely such a specialised thing, why bother trying to keep expertise here when you only need it for a small fleet?
I am therefore dubious about the whole US/UK nuclear sub deal.
Why not work with another country, closer to us, sharing our own regional interests, and just let them build us some convention subs that are quieter than nuclear anyway?
Hence - it pains me to say it, but Tony Abbott might have had the right instinct on something for once - why not go for the Japanese building us a fleet, but not the Soryu class, their latest design instead?:
Like the last two boats of the Soryu class, the Taigei will be equipped with lithium-ion batteries as a power source. Japan has conducted extensive research into the use of lithium-ion batteries onboard submarines since the early 2000s, and says they require less maintenance and are capable of longer endurance at high speeds while submerged, compared to lead-acid batteries.
Japan is the only known country to have operational submarines using lithium-ion batteries.
I like the idea of something as ubiquitous as lithium ion batteries powering a submarine; although I trust they have figured out the issue with them occasionally bursting into flame. But it is pretty rare in mobile phones, isn't it?
And look, they're even politically correct:
The Taigei subs also have another important new feature: all-gender bathrooms. Japan is following the U.S. Navy’s lead in integrating women into the submarine force, and Taigei will have bathrooms for both men and women. The issue isn’t just gender equality, but also the country’s declining population, which is creating a smaller pool of potential recruits. Opening subs to women effectively doubles the number of people that could serve in the Maritime Self Defense Force.
It's pretty incredible, really: countries may want plenty of submarines, but have trouble finding people willing to work in them.
And what about the cost?
Japan has plans for two more Taigei-class submarines, and has asked for $654.1 million for one more boat in the Defense Ministry’s latest budget request.
Assuming that is US dollars, sounds like the cost of one is roughly $1 billion AUD?
But we were planning on spending $90 billion on French submarines?
Gee - how many people does building subs here employ? Some government paper says:
The naval shipbuilding plan indicated that construction of the Future Submarine Program (FSP) is expected to sustain around 1,100 Australian jobs in direct build and around 1,700 Australian jobs through the supply chain.
So, tops, 3,000 or so people?
You could pay them a tax free income of $100,000 per year for $300 million per annum. Times a 20 year project - $6 billion.
Plus, say, 10 Japanese subs at about $1 billion each - grand total of $16 billion?
I have just saved the government $74 billion...
This idea of switching entirely to nuclear is dysfunctional argumentation, in that we can have both diesel and nuclear. With advantages to each. But consider this. We are now in the middle of a global mass depopulation attempt. And attempt which is going very well so far. This has been forced on us by the deep state bringing in the Chinese Communists as junior partners. The fake President is under the control of this team. So why is the team determined to point missiles, likely to be nuclear tipped, at themselves?
ReplyDeleteIts because it is a depopulation attempt. They need an excuse to send nukes at all the cities of Australia. To kill off the population. They will want to keep the buildings intact of course. Nuclear weapons are more dangerous the higher you detonate them. Since its more devastating to take down our electricity then it is to destroy our buildings.
So its an elaborate setup to keep depopulating Australians. First with vaccines full of graphene oxide, parasites, MRNA in order to get the body fighting itself .... Then there will be attempts to reduce food supply. Thereafter we will be looking at nuclear attacks to bring down the electricity and as a cover for mass extermination on the ground.