Posted on 04/25/2016 6:59:36 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Australia has awarded the A$50 billion ($40 billion) contract to build the country's new fleet of submarines to French naval contractor DCNS, sources said on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to Japan's nascent defence export industry.
Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will officially announce on Tuesday the winner of the contract to build the country's 12 new submarines, but two sources familiar with the process told Reuters that France has secured the contract ahead of Japanese and German bidders.
Another source at the French naval contractor said he was "quietly confident" of success ahead of the announcement by Turnbull.
Australia is ramping up defence spending, seeking to protect its strategic and trade interests in the Asia-Pacific as the United States and its allies grapple with China's rising power.
Local media reports suggested last week that Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.T), the previous frontrunners for the contract, had dropped out of contention, leaving France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS and Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG (TKAG.DE) to battle it out.
Beyond the contract price tag, one of the most lucrative global defence deals going, Australia's decision on the submarines has political implications both at home and abroad.
Industry watchers had anticipated a decision to come later in the year, but Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's recent gamble on a July 2 election has sped up the process.
The contract will likely have an impact on thousands of jobs in the shipbuilding industry in South Australia state, where retaining votes in key electorates will be critical for the government's chances of re-election.
"There are significant expenditures of public money," Treasurer Scott Morrison told reporters ahead of the announcement. "The focus is on Australia getting real benefits from jobs and experience in the future."
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
I guess America does not produce high quality submarines anymore if we ever did. Careful doing bi business in Japan, seems that here lately, they are having a round of destructive earthquakes.
Chinese aircraft carriers make wonderful targets...
It seems to make sense, after all, frogs are amphibious.
These are likely diesel boats. The US hasn’t produced any diesel boats since the fifties.
CC
I think just about everyone had good subs in WWII. We did have crappy torpedoes for a while.
Touche! Mon Ami.
Good for France. Glad it wasn’t the Japs or Germans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tang_(SS-306)
In her short career, Tang sank 33 ships totalling 116,454 tons. Commander Richard O’Kane received the Medal of Honor for her last two engagements (23 and 24 October 1944).
Tang was sunk during the last engagement by a circular run of her final torpedo, going down in 180 ft (55 m) of water. 78 men were lost, and the nine survivors were subsequently picked up by a Japanese frigate and taken prisoner. This was the only known occasion on which a Momsen lung was used to escape a sunken submarine.
The big drawback with USA is all the technology has been compromised. Think we have any Chinese nationals in some of our major defense labs? DoD being an equal opportunity employer.
The issue is that all your submarines are nuclear. And Australia’s need is for diesel subs.
(Personally I think we should look towards the nuclear option, but public opinion isn’t quite there yet)
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