France to build Australia’s new submarine fleet as $50bn contract awarded: VIDEO
France to build Australia’s new submarine fleet as $50bn contract awarded
Malcolm Turnbull announces DCNS awarded tender over Germany and Japan to build fleet of Barracuda-class submarines in South Australia
The Shortfin Barracuda, designed by French shipbuilder DCNS, is over 90 metres in length. Photograph:
DCNS Group/AAP
Australia’s new fleet of submarines will be built by France in South Australia, Malcolm Turnbull announced in Adelaide on Tuesday.
The award of the $50bn contract to French shipbuilder DCNS means the fleet will be new Barracuda-class submarines which will be built to Australian specifications for a conventional, non-nuclear powered submarine.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and the government of Japan were the two unsuccessful bidders in the bid to build 12 submarines to replace Australia’s Collins-class submarines.
The submarines will cost $20bn to build and $30bn to sustain after they come into operation in the middle of the next decade.
Turnbull said the submarine contract would “secure Australia, secure our island nation, but [also] ensure that our economy transitions to the economy of the 21st century”. The submarine project alone would create 2,800 jobs, he said.
Turnbull said the submarines “will be built here in Australia ... with Australian jobs, Australian steel, and Australian expertise”. However, some components may come from other states of Australia or other countries including the combat system, which will be sourced from the US.
He said the cost implications of building some of the vessels overseas relative to the completely local build were “comprehensively examined”. Nevertheless, he said the government was committed to the principle that “every dollar we spend on defence procurement as far as possible should be spent in Australia”.
“I want to thank TKMS and the government of Japan for their proposals, which were of a very high quality.
“However, the recommendation of our competitive evaluation process ... was unequivocal, that the French offer represented the capabilities best able to meet Australia’s unique needs.”
Industry minister Chris Pyne said the announcement secures Osborne in South Australia as the centre of the defence industry for naval ship building into the future. “This of course means a continuous naval shipbuilding industry for decades into the future which all first world countries should aspire to.”
According to reports, former prime minister Tony Abbott had favoured the Japanese bid, but after facing a leadership spill in February 2015 he opened the contract up for a “competitive evaluation process”.
Abbott said it was reasonable to expect the government to try to secure the best value and the best product and “to give Australian suppliers a fair go”.
South Australian MPs were concerned if Japan was awarded the contract local shipbuilder ASC would miss out on the chance to build the submarines. The Coalition had been under political pressure in the key manufacturing state over accusations it was preparing to break an election promise to build the submarines domestically.
In March a defence white paper leaked which purported to show that under Turnbull and his defence minister, Marise Payne, the entry into service of a replacement for the ageing Collins-class fleet had been delayed by “nearly a decade”.
Abbott confirmed that claim and said he was disappointed and flabbergasted by the delay.
But the secretary of the defence department, Dennis Richardson, rejected the claim there had been any delay to the scheduled introduction date.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/26/france-to-build-australias-new-submarine-fleet-as-50bn-contract-awarded
