Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
Note that they had a deal or declaration of intention signed with France providing them with nonnuclear subs. Thats gone, I think. So there has been a competion program some years agp. I recall the Germans had hopes to win it, but didnt.
The now announced deal is big because it ends a long prohibition of making US key technology available to others, because Australia will probably dont buy ready blats, but build them under license or license for key components itself. That has been a demand for the SS competition before, too. In other words, we speak of technology and knowhow transfer.
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The devil is in the details.
The deal with France was going nowhere fast. It exists on paper (as a signed contract) but France was being, well, France and wasn't planning to do anything until there was enough cash on the table.
Australia has traditionally been a close ally with the UK (naturally) and the US. While Australian military hardware was traditionally made up of second hand UK-based fighter planes and ships, they have also relied on US-sourced aircraft (the F-111 and F/A-18 fighter bombers) plus some smaller warships.
The only real problem was that Australia has never really used a "platinum card" budget to buy its hardware (much like Canada). I'm guessing part of the new deal involves some financial support from either the US or UK.
As far as tech transfers, this part isn't that big of a deal. The US was already working closely with the UK in terms of nuke propulsion (the US Columbia class SSBN and the UK's next-gen SSBN are rumored to share a lot of the same tech if not the same hardware). All that's really happening is the US and UK allowing Australia into the same club house. The bigger news (IMO) is Australia "rethinking" its anti-nuclear-power stance.