Australia has chosen the French submarines
The project of a large non-nuclear submarine Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A of the French consortium of companies DCNS and Thales, which won the tender
Under the terms of the contract being prepared for signing, all 12 boats must be built in Australia at the ASC plant, which will create additional 2,8 thousand jobs.
“The DCNS and Thales consortium proposed in the tender a draft of a large submarine Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A, which is a non-nuclear version of the new-generation Barracuda atomic multipurpose submarines currently under construction for the French Navy. The boat of the Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A project should have a 94 meter length and a full underwater displacement of about 4700 tons. In the spirit of the latest trends, the boat does not plan to equip an air-independent power plant, but should use a new generation of lithium-ion batteries to increase the range of the underwater course large capacity, marking a return to the diesel-electric circuit, "- said in a statement.
The total cost of the project "taking into account the cost of the life cycle of 12 submarines" is estimated at $ 36,6 billion.
In addition to the French, the final stage of the competition was the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and the Japanese consortium Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation with the Sory-type submarine project.
For a long time, the Japanese were in the lead in the competition (they even talked about concluding a contract with them out of competition), but by the beginning of this year, the Australians had cooled towards the Japanese project.
The Japanese are offended and are waiting for explanations from Australia.
“It’s a pity they didn’t choose,” said Japanese Defense Minister Nakatani. “We will demand explanations from Australia.”
However, according to him, “there is no change in the fact that Australia is a special partner of Japan”. The military department "will make every effort to strengthen defense cooperation (with this country)," he added.
Last summer, during a visit to Australia, Nakatani said that if the choice was made in favor of Japanese submarines, it would be possible to "build a model of strategic cooperation between Australia, the United States and Japan."
The Pentagon also advised the Australian military to choose Japanese companies, but, apparently, they decided on their own.
- DCNS
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