Nuclear submarines for the Royal Australian Navy (Navy) can be built by reducing the order for Virginia-type submarines of the US Navy, he said Breaking Defense researcher at the Hudson Institute Brian Clark.
"Since submarines are the part of the US Navy's shipbuilding infrastructure that is now exhausted, the construction of 12 Virginia — type submarines for the Royal Navy will mean that 12 Virginia-type submarines for the Navy will not be built," the expert admitted.
According to him, "this could be part of the plan of the administration of [US President Joseph Biden], since perhaps it is still 12 nuclear submarines for the alliance [AUKUS], but they will be paid for by Australia. However, these submarines will not be able to help the United States in other missions."
The publication notes that British nuclear submarines of the Astute type can become an alternative to the American proposal.
Breaking Defense admitted that the United States and Great Britain, using highly enriched uranium in the power plants of their nuclear submarines, can develop a nuclear reactor on low-enriched uranium specifically for Australian submarines. The second, unlike the first, cannot be directly used to create nuclear weapons.
In September, The Drive noted that France asked for almost $ 70 billion for the creation of 12 non-nuclear submarines of the Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A type for Australia and the transfer of relevant technologies, while it plans to build six nuclear submarines of the Barracuda type for a little more than 10 billion for itself.
Within the framework of the AUKUS alliance, announced in the same month by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the parties planned to exchange defense technologies with each other. In particular, Canberra will receive technologies for creating nuclear submarines from Washington or London. At the same time, the contract for the creation of non-nuclear submarines by Paris for Canberra was terminated.
Ivan Potapov
