It seems as though every day brings a different “definitive” story about the Australian submarine requirement to replace its troubled Collins-class submarines.
One day we hear that Australia is going to hold a competition for the Aus$20bn (€13.6bn or US$16.8bn) contract, then we read that no, it will just buy Japan's Soryu-class submarines off-the-shelf, sinking any hope of new jobs in Australia's shipyard and associated companies. Then we read that this is out of the question and an open tender will be held ... and then the pendulum swings back the other way.
That's where we are today, or at least at the time of writing! Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday (Dec.2) that: “We need to make decisions now and we don't have the time to go through a speculation process.” Reuters reported that a spokesman for Defense Minister David Johnston said no manufacturer had yet been chosen.
However, a spokesman for Saab confirmed that the Swedish company has submitted an unsolicited bid, offering a design specifically tailored for the Australian requirement and an Australian Defense Ministry spokesman has confirmed that the bid has been received.
Other submarine manufacturers are also interested in competing for the job. Germany's Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems is proposing its yet-to-be-built 4,000-ton Type 216 while French naval systems group DCNS has offered the SMX Ocean concept (for more details on these offers see the DTI issue dated Nov.17) and even opened a subsidiary, DCNS Australia, on Nov. 20.
Meanwhile, there is entertaining in-house bickering amongst members of the Australian government over the submarine replacement project.
link.
No comments:
Post a Comment