12/1/2023 0 Comments Nuclear submarine drawingOlder boats also become increasingly hard to maintain and struggle to retain their all-important minimal acoustic signature. Every dive, especially to greater depths, fatigues the pressure hull and pipework to a point where the safe diving becomes severely restricted or the boat becomes unseaworthy. Their nuclear fuel is spent and they would need colossally expensive refits and refuelling but more critically, the submarine has a finite hull life. None of the growing collection of decommissioned hulks could be returned to service with all the funds and will in the world. In the case of the UK, it has already expensively extended the 1980s-vintage Trafalgar class in service well past their 30th birthdays. Neither navy keep submarines ‘in reserve’. The US has a far bigger fleet with 28 Flight II and III Los Angeles class still active but its submarine force is already over-committed and Washington is unlikely to offer anything, except perhaps a recently retired boat as a static training vessel. However supportive of Australia the UK maybe, it simply has no suitable boats available for lease. The USN is trying to maintain its existing SSN force, struggling to build enough new Virginia class while its aging Los Angeles class are being phased out. The RN is already severely short of active boats – nominally down to 6 active SSNs, able to field 2 or 3 on a good day. This attractive proposal would provide operating experience and a stop-gap to cover the decommissioning of the Colins class while new boats are built but whether it can be achieved is far from certain. Try before you buyĪustralian Defence Minister, Peter Dutton has said the RAN is considering leasing boats from the USN or RN. However, it would be fair to say the RN’s tiny submarine force already more than has its hands full in the Euro-Atlantic. There has been some talk of eventually operating an RN Astute from Australia when appropriate support facilities have been developed. She was visited by Vice Admiral Mike Noonan, RAN, and other dignitaries. A tiny initial step following the AUKUS deal, this was the first time an Astute-class has berthed in Australia. These assumptions are at odds with the reality of struggles the USN and RN have to bring new boats into service and maintain ageing vessels.Īs the rest of UK Carrier Strike Group had already begun heading homeward, HMS Astute arrived at HMAS Sterling in Perth on 29th October. Alternatively, there is a suggestion that old or “surplus” submarines could be leased to the RAN until new vessels are available. PLAN boats may not currently be of the quality of western equivalents but if progress with their surface fleet is any indicator, they are likely to grow rapidly in quality and numbers over the next decade.Īmongst some commentators, there seems to be a perception that the first boats at least could be “bought off the shelf” from UK or US “production lines”. The RAN will also have to match up against a Chinese submarine fleet that already operates SSNs. The distance from its bases to the likely areas of operation are considerable and even the best SSK will take many more days to get into theatre – it’s around 3,500 miles from the RAN operating base in Perth to the South China Sea. (With considerable French assistance, Brazil is on track to have its first nuclear boat in the late 2020s).įrom an operational perspective, the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) conclusion that it needs SSNs makes complete sense. There are good reasons why SSN ownership is currently limited to a small group of elite nations consisting of the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and India. Nuclear propulsion adds another layer of complexity and cost and has been described as an engineering challenge more demanding than building the space shuttle. Here we focus on the daunting technical, industrial and financial challenges to be overcome on the long road to joining the SSN club.Įven the acquisition of conventional submarines is not easy and submarine construction projects completed on time and budget are rare. The political and strategic ramifications of the AUKUS pact announced in September continue to reverberate but the details of how Australia will actually acquire nuclear-powered submarines have been rather overlooked.
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