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In its 2009 White Paper, Australia’s Department of Defence and Labor Party government looked at the progress being made in ship killing surveillance-strike complexes, and at their need to defend large sea lanes, and dropped something of a surprise. They proposed increasing Australia’s submarine fleet to 12 boats by 2030-2040, all of which would be new successors to Australia’s current fleet of advanced Collins class submarines.

The Collins class was designed with the strong cooperation of ThyssenKrupp’s Swedish Kockums subsidiary, and built in Australia by state-owned ASC. The class has had a checked career, including significant difficulties with its combat systems, issues with acoustic signature, major cost growth to A$ 5+ billion, and schedule slippage. Worse still, reports indicated that the RAN can only staff 2 of its 6 submarines. High-level attention led to 29 recommendations aimed at improving conditions and staffing on Australia’s submarines, and those are now being implemented. Their long term effectiveness remains to be seen. So, too, does the nature of Australia’s SEA 1000 future submarine project – and its eventual cost.

• Program Structure & Timeline
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  (more…)

  2012-11-17 05:02:05

  Source: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Australias-Next-Generation-Submarines-05917/