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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australia has decided to invest in US nuclear-powered submarines and abandon its contract with France to build diesel-electric submarines due to a changed strategic environment Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a new US security alliance with Australia and Britain that would develop an Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet.
As a result, Australia notified France that it would end its contract with majority state-owned DCNS for the construction of 12 of the world’s largest conventional submarines. Australia has spent AU $ 2.4 billion ($ 1.8 billion) on the project since the French won the contract in 2016.
Morrison said US nuclear submarine technology was not an option open to Australia when the AU $ 56 billion ($ 43 billion) deal was reached in 2016. The United States did not ‘had so far shared the technology only with Britain.
Morrison said he told French President Emanuel Macron in June that there were “very real issues as to whether a conventional submarine capability” would meet Australia’s strategic security needs in the Indo-Pacific.
“Of course they’re disappointed,” Morrison said. “They were good partners. It’s about our strategic interest, our strategic capability needs and a changed strategic environment and we had to make that decision.
The Chief of the Australian Defense Force, General Angus Campbell, welcomed the new submarines.
“Our strategic environment has deteriorated,” said Campbell. “This difficult environment is becoming increasingly difficult and is expected to do so at an accelerated pace in the future.”
Australia had yet to decide which class of submarine it would choose and did not know how much the nuclear fleet of at least eight submarines would cost, Morrison said.
But Morrison said Australia’s defense budget will exceed the current 2.2% of gross domestic product.
Unlike nuclear-powered submarines, conventional submarines making long transits between Australia and potential conflict zones in the Asian region must spend time traveling to the surface where they are most vulnerable using diesel engines while they are recharging their batteries. The batteries propel them underwater.
Admiral Chris Barry, former chief of defense, said the French and American versions would have similar on-board capabilities, weapons and sensors.
“But what we’re going to gain are better transit speeds and greater operational endurance,” Barry said.
“Endurance in a nuclear powered submarine is limited by the patience of the crew and the amount of food on board and of course it is always limited but much, much more (endurance) than what we acquire in a conventional submarine, “he added.
The modernization of Australian submarines was a response to China’s takeover of the South China Sea, aggressive intimidation from Australia and intimidation from Japan and Taiwan, said Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank.
“We should call the first submarine of this new category the ‘Xi Jinping’ because no one is more responsible for pursuing Australia down this path than the current leader of the Communist Party of China,” Jennings said. .
The first of the 97-meter (318-foot) Shortfin Barracuda submarines, a suitable French nuclear submarine, was due for delivery in 2027.
Morrison said he expected the first of the nuclear submarines, to be built in the Australian city of Adelaide, to be built by 2040.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed his “total incomprehension” on France-Info on Thursday and criticized Australia and the United States.
“It was really a stab in the back. We have built a relationship of trust with Australia, and that trust has been betrayed, ”said Le Drian.
“I am angry today. This is not done between allies, ”he added. “We demand an explanation from both sides. “
New Zealand, Australia’s neighbor in the South Pacific, has been excluded from the new alliance. This includes banning nuclear-powered ships from entering New Zealand ports, a stance that has at times pitted him against the United States.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday that New Zealand had not been invited to join the alliance and would not have expected an invitation.
“The centerpiece, the anchor of this arrangement are nuclear powered submarines,” Ardern said. “And it will be very clear to all New Zealanders, and to Australia, why New Zealand would not want to be a part of this project.”
Ardern said the new alliance did not diminish its close ties with the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, which had been strengthened through the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement.
Morrison said Ardern was the first foreign leader he called on to explain the new alliance. He later called the rulers of Japan and India. The two countries combined with the United States and Australia form the Quad Security Dialogue.
“She was my first call because of the strength of our relationship and the relationship between our countries,” Morrison said. “Everyone in the region will benefit from the peace, stability and security that this partnership will bring to our region. “
The Chinese government has long suspended minister-to-minister contacts with Australia due to deteriorated bilateral relations. But Morrison said he was ready to discuss the new alliance with President Xi Jinping.
“There is an open invitation to President Xi to discuss these and many other issues,” Morrison said.
“I believe and hope that we will both share the same goal of a peaceful Indo-Pacific where the sovereignty and independence of nations are understood and respected and which allow their own citizens to flourish,” said he added.
Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, DC, Liu Pengyu, said countries should not build exclusion blocs targeting or harming the interests of third parties.
“In particular, they should get rid of their Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices,” he said.
Australia would become the first country without nuclear weapons to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Australia would discuss with the United States and Britain how nuclear waste from submarines should be disposed of, Defense Department Secretary Greg Moriarty said.
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PA journalists Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
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A previous version has been corrected to show that the first submarine will be built by 2040, not a decade from now.
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