Defence procurement bungles and wins

[DJC]

I'm curious to find out what people think about the procurement of 3 to 5 Virginia Class(USA) and up to 7 Astute Class(UK) nuclear subs.

To me it's a no brainer for a country like Australia with it's massive coastline to be heading down this route, the new submarines have serious capabilities, far beyond those of the more conventional.

We should have gone for nuclear submarines instead of the Collins class but better late than never.  If I remember correctly, K Rudd proposed obtaining nuclear subs in 2010 … but you can’t rush these things ?

I understand that the Aussie-built subs will be the Astute class replacements rather than the current Astute class.

There was some talk about us getting a couple of Astute class subs as an interim measure and to help the Brits with their defence budget (a bit like Melbourne-Collingwood and Grundy). There would have been merit in that arrangement in that there would be commonalities across the Astute class and their replacements.  Having a submarine fleet with both Virginia class and Astute replacement class vessels is not the most efficient option in terms of crew training and flexibility.  There will be commonality with reactors and, presumably, weapons and systems, so some Virginia experience should be transferable.