“The United States’ review of AUKUS is a valuable opportunity to reset the controversial deal, and in particular for Australia to ditch nuclear submarines for conventional boats,” Independent Member for Clark Andrew Wilkie says.
“Australia’s decision to replace the ageing Collins Class conventional submarine fleet with nuclear submarines was never a good idea. Yes, nuclear boats go fast and deep, and have remarkable endurance. But they are not as stealthy as many people believe, and are unsuited to South East Asian littoral and relatively shallow offshore waters. In other words, nuclear submarines are not the best technology for Australia’s needs.
“Moreover, any Australian nuclear submarine force would probably end up being so small as to be only capable of deploying operationally as little as one boat at a time, maybe two. This would obviously be much too small a force for independent Australian submarine operations during war, or a virtually insignificant contribution to coalition submarine operations with the US and United Kingdom.
“Common sense dictates that Australia should instead go with a conventional technology that we can afford and sustain, is better matched to our region, and which can be deployed in effective numbers. This would also be a bonus in coalition operations because it would allow Australia to contribute a specialised submarine capability not possessed by the US and UK. With the US and UK going fast and deep, and Australia prowling around quietly closer to shore, each country would be playing to their strengths, and the sum of the total coalition submarine force would be impressive.”
Mr Wilkie is a former lieutenant colonel and senior intelligence analyst.