Japan Offering Extensively Modified Soryu Class SSKs for Australian Submarine Procurement

Japan’s submarine bid team has outlined the details of its proposal for Australia’s SEA1000 Future Submarine program to replace the Royal Australian Navy’s existing Collins-class boats.

Speaking at the Pacific 2015 International Maritime Exposition in Sydney, Australia, officials from the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation consortium and the Japanese Ministry of Defense have confirmed that if Japan is selected to construct SEA1000, the submarines will be built in Australia with Japanese technology transfer.

Masaki Ishikawa, from Japan’s Ministry of Defense, said that the Japanese consortium is “very confident that we can build boats from Day One in Australia.” In such a scenario, the Japanese are proposing that a training center will be set up in Adelaide (in the state of South Australia) to train 300 engineers involved in the program.

In addition, a full-scale mock-up initially will be built by government-owned Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC) in Adelaide to train the Australian submarine workforce. The training is expected to take place over three years, part of which will occur in Kobe, Japan.

However, the Japanese have also suggested that they prefer the hybrid option of initially building some of the Australian submarines in Japan and the rest in Australia, and expect that this will result in Australia taking delivery of the first submarine faster, avoiding the need for building a mock-up for training—saving money in the long term.

The design being offered by the Japanese is a modified Soryu-class diesel-electric submarine, and will run on lithium-ion batteries as opposed to air independent propulsion (AIP). However, AIP could be offered if Australia has such a requirement.

The modified Soryus for Australia will also incorporate a new, Australian-developed hydrodynamic design, while the preferred combat system and a new heavyweight torpedo—which will be the submarine’s primary armament—are being jointly developed by Australia and the United States.

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