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Highlights
- Australia to squeeze timelines for its nuclear submarines with more updates in coming months.
- PM estimates an AU$10 billion spend for the new submarine base in the Australian east coast.
- The project timeline anticipated the first submarine in water only by 2040.
The latest buzz in the Australian defence space is on location of Australia’s much talked about nuclear submarine base. Australia is reportedly making itself more secure with a plan to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with its AUKUS allies. The recent talks are revolving around the location and spend estimate for a nuclear submarine base, to be set up probably in the Australian east coast.
Defence minister Dutton’s recent stance on nuclear submarines
Australian defence minister Peter Dutton has reportedly said that Australia could acquire its nuclear submarines much before the anticipated 2040 timeline. Sparking controversy, he stated that the design and construct details could be expected in a few months and possible ‘before’ elections. While in Dutton’s opinion, the fast pacing was happening to secure Australia in response to the rumours of a possible attack by China on Taiwan.
The opposing party leaders are naming it as a political stunt in response to a ‘hypothetical’ situation and an attempt to hide the delayed work on nuclear submarines. However, on Sunday, the defence minister revealed that the government was merely going to bring forward its decision on choosing British or American nuclear submarines and it did not mean an announcement before the election. He only confirmed ‘a lot of’ progress on the submarine project which is as of now looking at a probable new base in the east coast by 2023 and the first sub in water by 2040.
Image Source © Ostapenkoolena | Megapixl.com
PM Morrison’s take on Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines
In a recent speech at the Lowy Institute, PM Morrison added on to Dutton’s revelations, stating that the government had already reviewed around 19 potential sites to set up a new nuclear submarine base. PM even gave a spend estimate of an AU$10 billion for the base which is to be set up in the Australian east coast.
As per reports, Sydney was named as a preferred location for the east coast base, however, now even the Newcastle port is an emerging contender. While Newcastle port is famous for its coal export shipping, the Sydney port is in an Australian city already having a nuclear reactor.
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Bottom line
Australia has been talking about these on nuclear powered submarines since 2009. Last year the AUKUS alliance made the Morrison government choose US and UK over France for the submarine contracts. While Australia still expects the waterborne defence equips to be ready by only 2040, the upcoming elections and a rumoured possibility of China attacking Taiwan is probably squeezing the action timeline on it.
More on Australia’s Defence- Australia beefs up its army, inks AU$1 billion deal with S Korea
