Australia 'mugged by reality' on Aukus deal as US set to halve submarine build

[hunglee2]

Incidentally, Scott Morrison, the former PM who scuttled the French deal in favour of AUKUS - which costs the Australian tax payer 380 billion - is now on the board of at least one US defence think tank and I think at least another military manufacturer.

[wannes]

Lack of integrity kills everything. This is one "resource" you start with, that you can only lose. There is no gain. Some people lost it all before they can understand what integrity is.

[bamboozled]

It’s Democracy at it’s finest.

[erie]

'Australia pays $830m penalty for ditching non-nuclear French submarines'

[rapht]

I have to say, knowing a bit more than is public about the deal the Australians had in the first place with the French and that they chose to just throw away, that I'm left laughing out loud.

[JumpCrisscross]

> that they chose to just throw away

I believe the tech transfers are still happening. That’s massive. American nuclear submarine technology is in a class of its own.

[cyclecount]

This is corruption of the highest level. This is what the western leaders are doing with our carbon budget and the last few decades of high-energy society.

[JumpCrisscross]

> the Pentagon budget draft request includes construction of just one Virginia-class nuclear submarine for 2025

We’re selling them, right? Presumably not at a loss?

Why does the Congress need to appropriate for a boat Canberra is buying?

[openasocket]

The issue is industrial capacity. Right now the US has enough industrial capacity to deliver maybe 2 submarines a year, and that needs to scale a lot. But that requires the companies involved to build more dockyards, train more workers (this is fairly specialized stuff), etc. Thats a big upfront cost for those companies, and they aren’t entirely sure such investments would pay off, and things like the above budget request underline that hesitancy. Personally I think this is why we need government intervention, more than just throwing money at them and hoping they invest it in industrial capacity.

[sidewndr46]

You can't build and sell a warship (or submarine in this case) without congressional approval in the US

[PoignardAzur]

Laughs in French.

I'm strongly reminded of the diplomacy saying "Don't go into a well with an American rope".

[barrysteve]

Yeah and the whole reason China is a military threat is because McArthur got shot down by Truman and military tech is constantly stolen from the U.S.

Australia has to design and build it's own weapons to realistically have it's own political will.

We've seen it time and time again. People like Australia shirtless and plunderable.

[H8crilA]

You may have some points but McArthur wanted to turn Korea into a sea of irradiated isotopes. I think it's fair he was turned down.