The US State Department expressed regret over the recall of the French ambassador from Washington
France has recalled its ambassadors from the United States and Australia. The reason was the creation of the AUKUS union (Great Britain-USA-Australia), from which Paris lost the contract with Canberra for the supply of 12 submarines.
The US State Department said that it understands the position of France in the scandal with the AUKUS alliance and Australia's refusal to purchase non-nuclear submarines Barracuda from the French consortium Thales/DCNS.
He added that Washington hopes to continue discussing joint work with Paris "in line with our close bilateral partnership and commitment to cooperation on a whole range of issues, including the regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans." The parties can discuss this next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
"We note with regret the decision of France to recall the ambassador to Australia for consultations after the decision on the Attack Class project. Australia understands France's deep disappointment with our decision",- the representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, Maris Payne, said in turn.
The day before, the head of the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said that he had decided to immediately recall the ambassadors for consultations - at the request of President Emmanuel Macron.
What you won't do for the sake of submarines
Australia still does not have its own nuclear submarine fleet. The contract with the French involved the supply of non-nuclear Barracuda submarines from the Thales/DCNS consortium. The cost of the French project was considered very high from the very beginning, the lead submarine was to be delivered only in 2030, the series was to be completed by 2040. Australia initially planned to pay $ 28 billion for this, then the amount increased to $60 billion.
The United States and Great Britain, which established the AUKUS alliance together with Australia, promise Canberra technologies for the construction of nuclear submarines. For the first submarines to leave the Adelaide shipyards in 2036, Australia is ready to pay about $66 billion. The project involves the construction of eight submarines.
Now the Australians have at their disposal only six Collins-type submarines, they were built in 1990-2003 according to a modified Swedish project, the service life of these devices is 30 years.
The main task of the new submarines should be to contain the Chinese submarine fleet. The new Anglo-American-Australian alliance AUKUS is also aimed at fighting the PRC.
Ivan Zhukovsky