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Hypocritical debate over ASC's capacity to even 'build a canoe' : Comments
By Brendan O'Reilly, published 1/12/2014I know enough people in the services and in the Defence bureaucracy to be certain that ASC is definitely not held in high regard and that, if our Navy seeks value for money, it should buy its submarines overseas.
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Posted by plantagenet, Tuesday, 2 December 2014 12:37:19 PM
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Noting this is your first ever OLO post - welcome to OLO :)
My spies tell me you are an authentic expert on submarines - particularly propulsion systems.
Costings for Australia future submarines (SEA 1000) is more an art than a science because:
- few or no-one knows for sure how many subs the Australian Government wants (my money is on 6 with an option for 2 more just like the Collins)
- few or no-one knows exactly what characteristics (eg. range, Lithium-ion batteries and VLS?) the Australian Government wants (or needs) for the submarines
- the exchange rates for Australian dollars to German or Japanese currency shifts greatly over a 20 year payment plan (from choosing, designing and final launching)
- difficult to extrapolate today's dollars to 2035 dollars
- difficult to differentiate between foreign content in labour and parts to Australian content labour and parts
- difficult to differentiate between "upfront purchase price, "training costs" "spares", "breakdown" "sustainment" etc
- difficult to quantify the POLITICAL, TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL RISKS OF NO JAPANESE SALES RECORD for Japan's first major defence customer.
Will our current Prime Minister's good feelings about the current Japanese Prime Minister Abe be seen as a compelling reason in 20 years' time?
Regards
Pete