Posted on 06/06/2017 9:35:59 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Washington was rebuffed by the Australian government when it tried to convey strategic concerns about the $150 billion new submarine project, a former senior Pentagon official has revealed.
Washington was “not able to have a serious alliance discussion” with the Turnbull government about the Americans’ preference for Japan to build the navy’s new submarines to strengthen Australia-US-Japan ties in the face of a rising China.
In the first public comments by a senior Pentagon official at the time, Amy Searight has revealed hidden tensions between the Obama administration and the Australian government last year over the submarine project, which was awarded to French company DCNS. Her comments precede today’s Australia-US Ministerial Consultations in Sydney between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defence James Mattis and their Australian counterparts Julie Bishop and Marise Payne.
Dr Searight, then deputy assistant US secretary for defence for South and Southeast Asia, said Canberra told the Pentagon last year it did not want to hear American opinion on the submarine bid process between France, Japan and Germany.
“Everyone respected it was Australia’s decision to make,” Dr Searight told The Australian in Washington.
“(But) offering an opinion ... was very much rebuffed,” she said. “There was puzzlement as to why there was resistance in hearing the opinions of American officials (on) how we viewed it strategically, in terms of the alliance. It was unfortunate on a strategic challenge of this magnitude that we were not able to have a serious alliance discussion about it.”
Dr Searight, whose Pentagon responsibilities included Australia, said Washington believed Japanese-built submarines offered important strategic advantages to both the Australia and the US.
Both Australian and US navies already are conducting regional exercises with Japan’s Soryu-class submarines, as China aggressively builds of its submarine fleet.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
Ignoring Hussein’s military ideas seems like a good idea.
Anyone who chooses a mechanical, electrical, or computerized device, and chooses French over Japanese.....deserves what they get.
Peugeot or Lexus. Choose wisely.
The French are going to milk them for this experiment.
The Charles De Gaulle was such a fiasco
One of the french nuke sub is so small, the reactor size is inadequate and causes problems
Sounds like yet another obama f*** up.
I read a lot about this project while it was in negotiations, one of the main issues was the concern how this project would affect aus domestic shipbuilding capability. The French offer let’s the Australians keep more jobs basically.
All that said, they should have just bought off the shelf Virginias from us. Yes the manpower requirements are greater but they could have bought fewer as each sub can stay on station longer...it would have been cheaper too!
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