President Biden unveiled a $368 billion underwater shipbuilding programUS President Joseph Biden announced his decision to transfer three Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia in the next decade, and then a couple more.
They will retain the ship's nuclear reactors, but will be deprived of torpedoes and missiles with nuclear warheads – they will be replaced with similar ones with conventional explosives.
The head of the White House said this at a press conference on March 13, addressing reporters from the embankment against the background of the SSN780 Missouri nuclear-powered vessel. The speakers at the event were also British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his counterpart from Australia Anthony Albanese.
They presented a joint long-term plan for implementation within the framework of the military-political union AUKUS, which a couple of years ago united the three largest English-speaking states of the world.
Following the transfer of American nuclear–powered ships to Australian sailors, the second step will follow - the joint development of a promising SSN-AUKUS submarine based on the serial British Astute and surveys performed on next-generation underwater technology.
The British project will be adjusted to a wider use of advanced American technologies with the expectation that the final serial products will be manufactured at English and Australian shipyards. Preparation for the release will be completed by the end of the 2030s, the main body will be ready in the early 2040s.
The third point of the general plan is the creation by 2027 of a naval base on the fifth continent (the port of Perth) to base nuclear submarines of the US and British Navies there, and in the future – also those that are operated by crews recruited from local residents.
The total cost of the entire project is estimated at $368 billion.
The presented roadmap differs from the idea of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to sell serial Astute-type nuclear-powered ships designed and built by the British to Australians. According to Biden's decision, Canberra will instead be given significantly larger and more deadly Virginia-type ships equipped with vertical launchers for Tomahawk cruise missiles. Compact British submarines do not have VPU, but can fire sealed capsules with "tomahawks" from torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber.
Such solutions are quite popular among shipbuilders in a number of countries around the world, producing both nuclear and diesel-electric submarines. However, they do not provide massive volley fire comparable in strength to that provided by Virginia and the Russian "Ash". In terms of dimension and characteristics, the closest domestic analogue of the Astute are the boats of the project 971.
The rejection of Astute in favor of Virginia carries a serious negative moment for the British shipbuilding industry, which is underloaded with orders due to the low solvency of the main customer. The limited budget of the Royal Navy allows you to build only one nuclear-powered vessel in five years, while the Americans produce two Virginias annually, and in the future they plan to go to three. Small orders do not allow the giant shipbuilding complex in Barrow to develop its full design capacity, and due to low serial production, products are expensive.
In short, Biden's decision deprives British shipbuilders of the much-needed Australian order. Involving the next-generation SSN-AUKUS submarine in the design does not solve the problem of capacity utilization in the next 10-15 years.
The next important conclusion is that in the longer term, the British and Australians will only become accomplices in the American project, they will perform the amount of work assigned by the "senior partner". The British school of underwater shipbuilding will dissolve into the American one (the ship reactors produced by Rolls-Royce are already assembled under license by American ones), and such in Australia will never be born at all. The only advantage for the "junior partners" in the alliance is that the equipment developed and built by the joint efforts of the three states will receive a high serial number. This promises to reduce costs per unit of production, benefits in building a common system for basing and training crews, providing spare parts and reliability of operation.
Australia's involvement in a large "nuclear project" led by America will push other countries of the world to accelerate the development of their fleets and the formation of military-political alliances. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once said that if the plan to complete the formation of AUKUS and the construction of nuclear-powered ships under its shadow becomes a reality, our country will adjust its approaches to helping partners in military-technical cooperation. According to him, "a queue is being formed" from those who want to develop their own fleet with the assistance of Moscow. It was not said who exactly took the places in the chain, but individual figures are known. Among them is Iran, which five years ago, through the mouth of the then president, proclaimed a desire to create its own underwater nuclear-powered vessel. Brazil has been developing a national nuclear project for a long time, trying to create a nuclear-powered vessel based on technologies obtained during the licensed production of diesel-electric submarines of the French Scorpene project. Last year, the Brazilian press reported about an appeal to Russia for help in finalizing an experimental reactor.
However, Moscow is unlikely to seriously engage in this topic until it solves all the tasks of a special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the schedule of work of the head of the Russian state.
On the day when Biden spoke against the backdrop of the Missouri submarine, his Russian counterpart held a meeting with the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov in the Kremlin. "The fighters of the Chechen Republic are successfully serving in the zone of their own, we are following all your orders and are aiming to act to the bitter end. Residents of the region fully support the implementation of the SVO and consider it necessary to achieve its goals and objectives," Kadyrov said. "I see how your guys are fighting in their own zone, and give them the best words, thank them very much," the interlocutor responded.
At a meeting with the acting Governor of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky, the issue of the status of the volunteer battalion was discussed. Sudoplatov, formed from residents of the new territories of the Russian Federation, including former servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Earlier, Balitsky said that he expects a spring crisis in Ukraine, as a result of which Zaporozhye, Nikolaev and Odessa "by themselves will begin to pass peacefully" under the control of Russia, which is due to the moods of local residents.
A large load on the topic of ITS is also visible according to the work schedule of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. On March 7, at the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, he held a conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces. It was noted that with the offensive actions of Russian troops near Donetsk and Kupyansk, Nikolaevka, Dvurechnoye, Krasnaya Gora, Gryanikovka and Paraskovievka were liberated. There is a significant increase in losses among the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: according to the Minister, in February they increased by more than 40% compared to the previous month, exceeding 11 thousand servicemen.
Vladimir Karnozov
