Peter Dutton, Australia’s opposition leader, has urged the country to acquire the proven U.S. Virginia class nuclear-powered submarine instead of a British model. His comments came days before a joint announcement from the U.S., UK, and Australia on which submarine model would be chosen under the AUKUS deal.
Dutton explained that the UK’s Rolls-Royce had no production capability left and that the French design was too new. He stated that going with the first-in-class would be difficult, as production and design mistakes would need to be addressed.
The Australian government was previously considering a multi-billion French-designed non-nuclear submarine project, but it was eventually cancelled in favour of a nuclear-powered submarine. Dutton believes the Virginia class is ideal because it is a proven design, offers interoperability with the Americans, and can be scaled up quickly. He had previously proposed buying two submarines from the U.S. as a stop-gap measure.
Current Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy criticized Dutton’s comments, calling them “irresponsible” and “unhelpful”. He suggested that Dutton was either being mischievous or was not aware of the latest information. Conroy also mentioned that he had recently returned from the UK and had been briefed on the project.
It is likely that the three governments will settle on a new submarine design, the British SSNR submarine, which is set to succeed the Astute class. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the project was a “joint endeavour” and expressed confidence that it would be a tri-nation project. However, the same concerns over delivery timeframes remain with the Chinese military build-up in the Indo-Pacific continuing.